Pope Francis has died aged 88, the Vatican announced today.

The Pontiff spent his final weeks in hospital with an infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs.

The Conclave – where cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican to choose a successor – will not happen for at least 15 days.
Francis’s body will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica during an official mourning period, and then – in contrast to most of his predecessors – he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.

The Argentine became the first pope from outside Europe in 1,300 years when he was chosen to replace the retiring Pope Benedict XVI.

Despite several previous health issues and reduced mobility caused in part by his advancing years and expanding waistline, Francis had kept up a busy schedule until his final weeks.

In September 2024, he carried out a 12-day tour across south-east Asia and Oceania that included visits to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.

Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, will be remembered for his comparatively liberal attitudes on some subjects that made him both popular and controversial.

He expressed tolerance towards divorcees, allowed priests to bless same-sex couples under certain circumstances, and put concern for the environment at the heart of his papacy.

And he said in 2023 that transgender people could be baptised as long as it did not cause a scandal or ‘confusion’.

But he did stand firm on the subject of abortion. In a text signed by Francis that was released by the Vatican last year, terminations were described as ‘an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense’.

Francis was first hospitalised on February 14. His treatment meant he had to cancel appearances, including his regular weekly prayer to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square.

His final illness came after he was hospitalised for three days in March 2023 with bronchitis.

In June that year he had a three-hour operation to repair an abdominal hernia.

He also had to cancel his trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in November 2023 because of the effects of inluenza and lung inflammation.

And he had two recent falls.

After the first, in December 2024, he appeared with a large bruise on his chin during a ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica to install 21 new Catholic cardinals.

In January this year, he fell and hurt his right arm, which had to be put into a sling.

Francis’s health was considered more fragile because of the fact that he had to have part of one of his lungs removed when he was 21 after developing pleurisy.

Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936. He was one of five children of an Italian immigrant railway worker and his wife.