Today, at 7:35 a.m. Rome time on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, read a brief communiqué from the chapel of the Domus Sancta Marta: “The Bishop of Rome, Francis, has returned to the house of the Father.”

The 88‑year‑old Pontiff, who had been battling double pneumonia after a February hospitalisation, succumbed quietly in his residence, surrounded by his personal physician, his longtime secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and the Sisters of Santa Marta, according to AP News.

Bells immediately tolled across Rome and the façade of St Peter’s was draped in mourning bunting as the faithful gathered to pray the De profundis.

Early life & vocation

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires to Italian‑immigrant parents, Mario and Regina. Raised on soccer, opera and his grandmother Rosa’s Rosary, he first trained as a chemical technician before entering the Jesuit novitiate in 1958 and being ordained a priest in 1969.
In 1973 he became Provincial of the Argentine Jesuits during the nation’s “Dirty War,” quietly sheltering dissidents and mediating for kidnapped priests.
Appointed Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and created a cardinal by St John Paul II in 2001, he earned the nickname “Padre de las Villas” for his weekly bus‑rides into the poorest slums.

“From the ends of the earth” – Election in 2013

Following the historic resignation of Benedict XVI, Cardinal Bergoglio was elected the 266ᵗʰ Pope on 13 March 2013. Taking the name Francis after the Poverello of Assisi, he became the first Jesuit, the first Latin‑American, and the first non‑European in over a millennium to assume the Petrine ministry.

Hallmarks of a twelve‑year pontificate


Mercy:	Evangelii Gaudium (2013); Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015‑16)
Ecology:	Laudato Si’ (2015) & follow‑up Laudate Deum (2023) calling care for creation a “moral imperative.”
Peace:	Fratelli Tutti (2020); joint “Human Fraternity” declaration Imam; visits to Iraq, Sudan, and Ukraine.
Reform:	Constitution Praedicate Evangelium (2022) decentralised Vatican dicasteries, tightened fiscal transparency.
Synod:	Launched a global, two‑stage Synod listening process (2021‑2024) to “walk together” as Church.

Trials & final months

Age and sciatica gradually restricted his mobility, yet he kept a brisk schedule, celebrating 84 apostolic journeys to 61 nations. Gastro‑intestinal surgery (2021) and persistent knee pain forced him to a wheelchair in 2022, but he joked, “Popes don’t retire, they’re recycled.”

On 14 February 2025 he was admitted to Gemelli Hospital for respiratory failure; the bout developed into double pneumonia. He was discharged after 38 days and made a brief, radiant Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday—his last public act.

Catholic funeral rites & what comes next

Pope Francis’ body will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica for three days of public veneration. The Requiem Mass—presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals—will be followed by burial in the Vatican Grottoes.

The novemdiales (nine days of mourning Masses) begin immediately, while Cardinals worldwide converge on Rome for a conclave expected in mid‑May.

A word to the faithful

Pope Francis chose as his episcopal motto “Miserando atque eligendo”—“Lowly yet chosen.”

He reminded us ceaselessly that “the name of God is Mercy.” As we commend his soul to the merciful Heart of Jesus, Catholics are invited to pray:

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Legacy in brief

A Church re‑oriented toward the peripheries.
A prophetic voice for the poor, migrants, and the planet.
An open, if contested, path toward synodal governance.
A witness that authentic authority is exercised in humility and joy.

May future generations echo his first greeting from the Loggia: “Buonasera!”—and carry forward his call to go forth and encounter Christ in every brother and sister.

Praying the De profundis for Pope Francis

Since the bells tolled this morning, Catholics around the world have turned instinctively to the De profundis—Psalm 130 in the Vulgate numbering.

For centuries the Church has prescribed this penitential psalm for the repose of the dead, especially popes, bishops, and all the faithful departed.

Chanted at funerals, during the novemdiales, and every evening by many religious communities, it is a prayer that unites grief with hope:

Latin (Vulgate)

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes
ad vocem deprecationis meae.

Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine,
Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est,
et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.

Sustinuit anima mea in verbo eius,
speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem
speret Israel in Domino.

Quia apud Dominum misericordia,
et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel
ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius.

English (liturgical translation)

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is found forgiveness,
for this we revere you.

I wait for the Lord,
my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul looks for the Lord
more than sentinels for daybreak.

Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is mercy,
with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all its sins.

How to incorporate it over the coming days

At home or in the parish church: Light a candle for the late Holy Father and pray the De profundis slowly, pausing after each stanza.
During the novemdiales (nine days of mourning): Many dioceses will gather each evening to recite this psalm before Mass or Benediction. Joining—physically or virtually—extends spiritual solidarity with the universal Church.
Indulgence for the faithful departed: Under the usual conditions (Confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope’s intentions, and detachment from sin), praying Psalm 130 for a deceased person may obtain a plenary indulgence during November or a partial indulgence at other times. Offering it now is a fitting final gift to Pope Francis.

In lifting this ancient cry “out of the depths,” we entrust Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the profound mercy he preached so tirelessly—confident that the Lord who “plentifully redeems” will bring his servant to everlasting light.