Pope Francis died early Monday after suffering a stroke and heart failure, according to a death certificate released by Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli.
The document, made public by the Vatican, stated that the 88-year-old pontiff had slipped into a coma before his death, which occurred early Monday morning.
Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, suffered double pneumonia this year. Earlier on Easter Sunday, he appeared in an open-air popemobile to welcome cheering crowds in St. Peter’s Square, indicating his convalescence was progressing well.
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.
“At 7:35 (0535 GMT) this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.”
POPE FRANCIS PREFERRED UNDECORATED GRAVE
No date has been announced yet for the funeral, but the Vatican said it would traditionally be expected to occur at some point between Friday and Sunday. A gathering of cardinals is scheduled to take place on Tuesday and could establish the schedule for the funeral then.
The text specified that Francis wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
