{"id":39337,"date":"2025-04-21T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/39337\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T21:27:08","slug":"pope-francis-died-of-cerebral-stroke-and-heart-failure-vatican-doctor-religion-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/39337\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis died of cerebral stroke and heart failure: Vatican doctor | Religion News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vatican publishes death certificate, pontiff\u2019s request to be buried at Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis died<\/a> of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli says in a death certificate.<\/p>\n

The certificate released on Monday for the 88-year-old pontiff said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Francis died of \u201ccerebral stroke, coma, irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse\u201d, the death certificate said. It added that the first Latin American pontiff<\/a> in the history of the Roman Catholic Church died at 7:35am (05:35 GMT) in his apartment at the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.<\/p>\n

Just a day earlier<\/a>, the pontiff made what would be his final major appearance as he greeted thousands of Easter worshippers from an open-top popemobile in St Peter\u2019s Square and delivered a blessing through an aide.<\/p>\n

Francis had suffered various ailments during his 12-year papacy with life-threatening complications in recent weeks during a bout of double pneumonia, for which he spent 38 days at Rome\u2019s Gemelli University Hospital in February and March.<\/p>\n

The death certificate added that Francis also suffered from arterial hypertension, multiple bronchiectasis and type 2 diabetes, ailments that had not been previously disclosed.<\/p>\n

The Vatican also released Francis\u2019s spiritual testament \u2013 a written statement of faith \u2013 in which he said he wished to be buried in Rome\u2019s Basilica of St Mary Major and not at St Peter\u2019s Basilica in the Vatican, unlike many of his predecessors.<\/p>\n

The text specified Francis wanted to be buried \u201cin the ground, without particular decoration\u201d but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I sense the approaching twilight of my earthly life, and with firm hope in eternal life, I wish to set out my final wishes solely regarding the place of my burial,\u201d read the testament, which was dated June 29, 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay the Lord grant a fitting reward to all those who have loved me and who continue to pray for me,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Rosary prayer<\/p>\n

The Vatican on Monday evening held a rosary prayer in St Peter\u2019s Square, its first public commemoration since the pope\u2019s death. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St Peter\u2019s Basilica, led the prayer at sunset.<\/p>\n

Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Vatican City State and one of the highest ranking women at the Vatican, delivered the first reading. Her appointment was a sign of Francis\u2019s insistence that women be given more prominent decision-making roles.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019s death marks the beginning of nine days of mourning called the Novendiale.<\/p>\n

His body will be dressed in papal vestments and placed in St Peter\u2019s Basilica for public viewing before his burial. Daily prayer services and Requiem Masses will be held in Catholic churches worldwide and at St Peter\u2019s Basilica during this time.<\/p>\n

The Vatican also enters a transitional period<\/a> called the sede vacante or interregnum, during which power is handed over to the College of Cardinals, but no major decisions will be made until the papacy is filled.<\/p>\n

In about 15 to 20 days, cardinals under the age of 80 will convene at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, which will be sealed off, to elect the new pontiff through a secret ballot. Once the next pope is elected, white smoke will emerge from the chimney of the chapel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vatican publishes death certificate, pontiff\u2019s request to be buried at Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome. Pope…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[299,12,8547,19276,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-39337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-religion","11":"tag-vatican","12":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114378076812736640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}