Pope Francis dies at 88

Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, passed away on April 21. He was 88. His real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was the first Jesuit to lead the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas. He was also the first to take the name Francis, in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.

• Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, passed away on April 21. He was 88.

• His real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

• He was the first Jesuit to lead the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas.

• He was also the first to take the name Francis, in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.

• Pope Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14 for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there. 

• But he emerged on Easter Sunday — a day before his death — to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause.

• Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived. 

• His death sets in motion centuries-old traditions that will culminate in the gathering of a conclave of cardinals to choose a successor.

• In the meantime, the day-to-day running of the tiny Vatican City state will be handled by the camerlengo, a senior cardinal, currently Dublin-born Kevin Farrell.

• Francis’s desire to chart a different path was evident right to the end, with his decision to be buried not in St Peter’s Basilica, but in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.