How Pope Francis spent his final days before he passed away on Easter Monday
More details were revealed on the passing of Pope Francis on April 21.
In a report by CNN, the pontiff had spent his final days "in service of the Church," and he tried to participate "as much as he could" in the celebration of Easter.
While the 88-year-old pontiff did not conduct the main Holy Week and Easter services because of his health, he still made it a point to make brief appearances.
The news outlet detailed that he visited a prison in Rome on Thursday for 30 minutes and stopped by St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday evening.
He also conducted the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the “City [of Rome] and to the World” while an aide read his address. This blessing can only be done by a pope on certain solemn occasions.
His other activities include greeting the crowds in St. Peter’s Square from the popemobile, as well as meeting with foreign leaders US Vice President JD Vance and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
"I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill," Vance wrote on X. "May God rest his soul."
With all Francis' activities, Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official, said he did not think the pope pushed himself irresponsibly, and needed to move about.
"Absolute rest isn't healing," Czerny said. "He balanced convalescence with his being the Bishop of Rome."
Francis had suffered from a serious bout of double pneumonia in recent months. His death comes a day after he had made his first prolonged public appearance since being discharged on March 23 from a 38-day hospital stay for pneumonia.
"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.
"At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father."
A final few words
Since returning from the hospital, Francis had 24-hour care from a nurse, the Vatican said previously. The pope was receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose overnight and during the day as needed.
During his stay in the hospital, the pope also used non-invasive mechanical ventilation, involving the placement of a mask over his face to help push air into his lungs. He was no longer using ventilation after leaving the hospital, the Vatican said.
In his last public appearance on Sunday, Francis said only a few words, wishing a happy Easter in a raspy voice to about 35,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
In a traditional Easter message, read by an aide, Francis reiterated his frequent call for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the enclave "deplorable".
The pope also called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages and condemned what he said was a "worrisome" trend of antisemitism in the world.
Father Gabriel Romanelli, from the Gaza parish the pope called regularly during the Israel-Hamas war, told Vatican News: "The pope called us for the last time on Saturday evening, shortly before the Easter Vigil began, while we were praying the Rosary. He told us that he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers in his favour."
As he toured the square in his popemobile on Sunday, people lined the aisles to get close to him, many holding aloft national flags and shouting "viva il papa!" (long live the pope!). Some offered babies for him to bless.
Italy's Family Affairs Minister Eugenia Roccella said Francis had given his all, to the end.
The pope, she said in a statement, "chose not to spare himself, transmitting in his suffering, physical closeness, a message about his whole papacy." (with reports from Reuters)
