Pope Francis died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.
He was 88.
His death certificate released by the Vatican said Francis died of a stroke, causing a coma and “irreversible” heart failure.
Although Francis was ordered by doctors to spend two months resting after being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on March 23, the pontiff could not resist numerous public appearances.
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His funeral, which is expected to draw huge crowds, will take place on Saturday at 10:00 (SA time) in the majestic Baroque plaza in front of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Pope Francis’s coffin – which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc – will then be taken inside the church and from there to Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.
Lie in state
The Vatican published the first images on Tuesday of the pontiff in his open coffin, wearing his red papal vestments, a mitre on his head and a rosary between his fingers.
The images came from a Monday evening service in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence where he lived during his 12-year papacy, and where he died.
Francis’s coffin will be transferred to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday at 09:00, to lie in state until Saturday’s funeral.
In St Peter’s Square, believers and tourists alike gathered to pay their respects, some bearing flowers or candles and with many lost in their thoughts.
The Holy See’s official media Vatican News, released details about Francis’s last hours.
The pontiff started feeling ill Monday at around 05:30, less than 24 hours after he greeted a crowd of faithful in St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
Before falling into a coma, he waved to his personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti from his bed, in what Vatican News described as “a gesture of farewell”.
On Sunday, he had thanked Strappetti for encouraging him to take what would become his last tour of St Peter’s Square in his popemobile.
“Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying.
He was pronounced dead at 07:35 on Monday.
“He did not suffer. It all happened quickly,” Vatican News said, citing people who were with the pontiff in his final moments.
Franciscus
Pope Francis, who during his papacy wore plain robes and eschewed the luxury of his predecessors, has opted for a simple tomb, unadorned except for his name in Latin, Franciscus, according to his will released on Monday.
In choosing to be buried in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, he will become the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican.
If you could attend Saturday’s funeral, would you?
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