VATICAN CITY, Rome — As the world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, tributes, prayers, and preparations for his funeral continue across Rome and beyond.
The 88-year-old pontiff died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, following a stroke and heart failure, according to a statement from the Vatican.
His final public appearance came just hours earlier, during the traditional Easter blessing at St. Peter’s Square.
Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell seals the door to the papal bedroom and studio at the Vatican on Monday, April 21, 2025. | Vatican Media/AP
The formal mourning period began with the symbolic sealing of Pope Francis’ official residence by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo of the Holy See.
Though Francis lived at the Casa Santa Marta rather than the traditional Apostolic Palace, the latter was sealed in accordance with Vatican protocol marking the end of a pope’s reign.
Cardinal Farrell oversaw the placement of a red ribbon across the door, which was secured with a wax seal, in a gesture dating back centuries meant to preserve the sanctity of the pope’s private quarters during the sede vacante period.
Nuns attend a rosary prayer for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday, April 21, 2025. | Yara Nardi/Reuters
Simple Burial in a Beloved Basilica
In a final act of humility, Pope Francis requested to be buried in a simple grave at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a church of great personal significance to him.
According to his will, which the Vatican released publicly, his tomb is to bear only the Latin name Franciscusand feature no ornate decoration.
He will be the first pope in over 100 years to be buried outside the Vatican.
People stand next to a photograph of Pope Francis placed at Saint Anthony Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday, April 21, 2025. | Khalil Hamra/AP
Candles and flowers now surround the icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani, inside the basilica, where mourners gathered for a second rosary in his honour.
Francis had a longstanding devotion to the image and often prayed there before and after international travels and health crises.
Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan points to an image of Pope Francis as he addresses the media at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan on Monday, April 21, 2025. | Adam Gray/Reuters
U.S. and Global Leaders Respond
President Donald Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump will attend the funeral in Rome.
“He’s a very good man who loved the world. And he especially loved people that were having a hard time,” Trump said, adding that he had ordered U.S. flags to fly at half-staff in honour of the pontiff.
In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan will celebrate a Mass for Pope Francis at St. Patrick’s Cathedral before travelling to Rome to participate in the funeral and subsequent conclave.
Argentine President Javier Milei declared a week of national mourning in Francis’ homeland. Across Buenos Aires, people of different faiths gathered in churches where the pope once preached to offer prayers and reflection.
Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko attends a rosary for Pope Francis at Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on Monday, April 21, 2025. | Dylan Martinez/Reuters
A Legacy of Dialogue and Compassion
Among those paying tribute was Rabbi Daniel Goldman of Buenos Aires, who said he considered himself a disciple of Pope Francis. Goldman recalled monthly lunches with the future pope during his time as archbishop, noting Francis’ humility and simple lifestyle.
“He would call and ask which bus to take. That’s the kind of man he was.”
Francis’ commitment to interfaith dialogue and his advocacy for refugees, the poor, and the marginalised defined his papacy and earned him admiration across religious and political lines.
Outpouring from the Public and Celebrities
Public figures from across the entertainment world shared their memories and condolences. Actor Jonathan Pryce, who portrayed Francis in The Two Popes, called it “an absolute privilege” to represent “a man of integrity who embraced diversity and equality.”
Whoopi Goldberg, Antonio Banderas, Jimmy Fallon, Maria Shriver, and others echoed similar sentiments on social media, remembering the pope’s kindness and humour.
Pope Francis’ body will lie in state for public viewing ahead of the funeral.
The Novendiales, the traditional nine-day mourning period, has officially begun.
The conclave to elect his successor will follow no earlier than 15 days after his death and no later than 20 days, per church law.
Pope Francis at the chapel in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Sunday, March 16, 2025. | Vatican Press OfficePope Francis | Andreas Solaro/AFP viA Getty ImagesPope Francis, pictured in September in Singapore, has endured severe pneumonia in the past and had part of one lung removed. | Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty ImagesPope Francis (C) and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (2nd L) are greeted by well-wishers following a meeting with Indonesian authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 4, 2024, during his apostolic visit to Asia. | Willy Kurniawan/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesA woman touches a portrait of Pope Francis on February 24, 2025, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. | John Moore/Getty ImagesNuns pray at the statue of John Paul II outside Gemelli University Hospital, where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia. | Tiziana Fabi / AFP – Getty ImagesPope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica to mark the start of the Catholic Jubilee Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. | Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP
Francis’ final message, delivered on Easter Sunday through an aide, called for an end to wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan — a lasting reminder of the pope’s steadfast appeal for peace even in his final hours.
As the bells of Rome toll and candles flicker in cathedrals across the globe, the legacy of Pope Francis — marked by simplicity, mercy, and moral courage — continues to resonate.
Nuns pray at the statue of John Paul II outside Gemelli University Hospital, where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia. | Tiziana Fabi / AFP – Getty ImagesPope Francis washing the feet of inmates on Thursday, April 2, 2015 (Photo Credit: Pintrest)Pope Francis Holds His Weekly General Audience
Pope Francis (right) shakes hands with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the Vatican, on Dec 23, 2013. — PHOTO: REUTERSPope Francis in his typical picture, waving and smiling on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
Pope FrancisPope Francis’ compassionate nature was poignantly captured in this image of him tenderly comforting a man with a rare disorder by kissing him on the head at the end of his Pope Francis (R) hugs a sick person in Saint Peter’s Square at the end of his General Audience in Vatican City, 06 November 2013. EPA/CLAUDIO PERI /LANDOVIn this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at the juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus’ washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren’t necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano)
Pope Francis blesses a child in St. Peter’s Square after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican March 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)Pope Francis
Pope Francis greets his papal audience (Photo Credit: iStock)President Jonathan & the First Lady with Pope Francis at the Vatican | Photo: Reuben AbatiIn this photo provided Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis has his picture taken inside St. Peter’s Basilica with youths from the Italian Diocese of Piacenza and Bobbio who came to Rome for a pilgrimage, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. The pontiff had a private audience with 500 youths from the diocese. | AP Photo/L’Osservatore RomanoPope Francis and President Barack Obama smile as they exchange gifts at the Vatican (Photo Credit: GABRIEL BOUYS/AP)First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan greeting Pope FrancisA gift from Pope Francis to President Jonathan, Vatican | Photo: Reuben AbatiPope Francis Washes Feet on Maundy Thursday 2014In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis touches a boy’s head, no name available, as he delivers his speech during an audience with families in St. Peter’s Square gathered for the Pontifical Council for the Familyís plenary assembly, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A young boy, part of a group of children sitting around the stage where the pontiff was delivering his message to families, played around Pope Francis as he continued delivering his speech, occasionally patting the boy’s head. | AP Photo/L’Osservatore RomanoIn this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus’ washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren’t necessarily Catholic. | AP Photo/L’Osservatore RomanoNov. 20, 2013 – Vatican City State, Italy – POPE FRANCIS blesses a sick man with deformed facial features after his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. | Evandro Inetti/ZUMAPRESS.comPope Francis waves to faithfull as he arrives for his first Angelus at his summer residence in Castelgandolfo, 40 kms south east of Rome on July 15, 2013. | Andreas Solaro /AFP/Getty Images)In this image from video, a crowd mobs the silver Fiat carrying Pope Francis through Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 22, 2013. Ecstatic believers forced the closed Fiat to stop several times as they swarmed around during the drive from the airport to an official opening ceremony in the center of the city. | APIn this picture provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis, right, is flanked by Vatican Almoner Archbishop Konrad Krajewski as he welcomes four men at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013. Four homeless people, one of them bringing his dog, helped Pope Francis celebrate his 77th birthday at the Vatican Tuesday. They live on the street in the Rome neighborhood just outside the Holy See’s walls and were invited by the Vatican official in charge of alms-giving to attend the morning Mass which Francis celebrates daily at the hotel where he lives on Vatican City grounds, the Vatican said. One of the men held his dog as he was presented to Francis after the guests chatted following Mass. The Vatican also said Francis invited his household help to join him in a “family-like” atmosphere, and he spoke of them one by one during his homily. | AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano
Pope Francis celebrates an open-air mass in front of the Italy’s largest war memorial, in Fogliano Redipuglia, northern Italy, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014. Pope Francis has urged the world to shed its apathy in the face of what he sees as a third world war, intoning “war is madness” during a homily at the foot of a Fascist-era World War I monument near the Slovene border. (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Paolo Giovannini)
Pope Francis prays at the gravestones of an Austro-Hungarian cemetery in Fogliano di Redipuglia, northern Italy, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014. Pope Francis will confront a piece of his own family history when he visits a World War I memorial Saturday built amid the battlefields where his grandfather fought in the brutal Italian offensive against the Austro-Hungarian empire, surviving to impress upon the future pope the horrors of war. Francis’ aim is by recalling those who died in the first World War that broke out 100 years ago is to honor the victims of all wars, and it comes at a time when his calls for peace have grown ever more urgent amid new threats. The pontiff will pray first among the neat rows of gravestones for fallen soldiers from five nations buried a tidy, enclosed Austro-Hungarian cemetery, then travel by car just a couple of hundred meters to Italy’s largest war memorial, a grandiose Fascist-era monument to 100,000 fallen Italian soldiers, for an open-air mass. (Photo Credit:AP Photo/Luca Bruno)Pope Francis embraces a girl during a meeting with young people at Manila university Philippines on Sunday, January 18, 2015. (Photo credit: Reuters)Throwback photo: Oscar Crespo, (fifth from left) and Pope Francis, (fourth from right), in a high school picture together. (Photo Credit: Mail Online)Oscar Crespo, Pope Francis’ best friend from childhood. (Photo Credit: Mail Online)Pope Francis washing the feet of inmates on Thursday, April 2, 2015 (Photo Credit: Pinterest)The Pope told Mr Crespo, pictured here meeting the Pope, real name Jorge Bergoglio, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires six years ago, that the ban on priests getting married was not ‘doctrine’. (Photo Credit: Mail Online)
