Pope Francis has died, the Vatican announced early Monday morning. He was 88.
The first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic led the Catholic Church for 12 years, having been elected in March 2013 following the historic resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis recently left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was admitted on February 14 after having difficulty breathing. A serious bout of double pneumonia was diagnosed as the cause.
“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.
The late Pope made his mark in a number of ways.
Francis was the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pontiff since Pope Gregory III, more than 1,000 years earlier.
His death triggers the start of the solemn process to elect a new pope, beginning with the papal funeral in the coming days and end with a plume of white smoke emanating from the Sistine Chapel.
More to come…
