Argentina’s president describes ‘true honour’ in knowing pope

Argentina’s president has shared a tribute to his compatriot.

“It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace,” he wrote on social media.

“Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his kindness and wisdom was a true honour for me.

“As president, as an Argentine, and, fundamentally, as a man of faith, I bid farewell to the Holy Father and stand with all of us who are today dealing with this sad news.”

Requiem mass to be held at Westminster Cathedral today

Requiem masses are expected to be held in Catholic cathedrals across England and Wales 

A mass will be held at Westminster Cathedral in London at 5.30pm. 

Prayer cards have been distributed to Catholic parishes throughout the two countries, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said.

A requiem mass is also known as a mass for the dead. 

Pope ‘passed away peacefully’, hospital sources say

Sources at Rome’s Gemelli hospital have said Pope Francis “passed away peacefully”.

The pontiff had been treated for double pneumonia at Rome’s biggest hospital, where he spent five weeks before he was discharged on 23 March.

Pope Francis ‘one of the most influential people of the 21st century’

Pope Francis was “arguably one of the most influential people” of the 21st century, a former editor of the Catholic Herald has said. 

Madeleine Teahan told Sky News that millions of people would feel the loss of the pope and he would be remembered for “standing up for what he believed was right”. 

“He was certainly controversial in many ways. He divided catholics in a number of ways… but he was trying to capture those catholics who had come away from the church and wanted to find their way back,” she said. 

“He will be remembered as someone who has many different sides to him and that’s what makes him so unique to many Catholics.” 

Watch: Timeline of the key moments in pope’s life

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, the pope would become the first head of the Catholic Church to hail from South America.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments in his life:

Who were the popes from the past 800 years?

By Kate Schneider, data journalist

Pope Francis leaves a legacy unlike that of many of his predecessors.

The Argentinian pontiff, who ushered in a swathe of reforms over his 12-year papacy, symbolised to many an increasingly modern, progressive, and inclusive Church.

As life expectancy worldwide has risen, so has the average age of popes at the end of their papacy.

At 88, Pope Francis ended his term of office as the second-oldest among all popes from the past 500 years.

He was surpassed only by Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at age 93.

Pope Francis was among the oldest pope in history to begin his papacy when he was chosen by the College of Cardinals, the senior leadership tier of the Church, in 2013, when he was in his seventies.

Francis’s immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, stepped down as pope at age 85 – the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. He died in 2022 aged 95.

Here are the popes from the past 800 years:

A centuries-old process cloaked in secrecy: How the new pope will be chosen

With the death of Pope Francis, the wheels are in motion to select a new pontiff.

Vatican sources say the conclave to elect a new pope should conclude within a month, though Sky News understands this is expected to happen more quickly than that.

The election is conducted in conditions of secrecy and the cardinals are shut away in the Vatican until they reach agreement.

Usually the college has a limit of 120 on voting-age cardinals.

In 2007, Pope Benedict passed a decree stating that cardinals needed to reach a two-thirds majority.

The election process can take days and the cardinals are not allowed to have contact with the outside world during this period.

The voting takes place in the Sistine Chapel and after all the votes have been cast, the papers are mixed, counted and opened.

The ballot papers are then burned and if a decision has been reached, white smoke is visible from the chimney to onlookers outside the Vatican.

Around 15 minutes after the white smoke appears, the announcement on whom the next pope will be is made.

But, if black smoke is visible from the chimney, it means a decision is yet to be reached – and the voting process will continue. 

To get the black smoke, the papers are burned with a chemical.

Read more here:

‘A wonderful legacy’: Pope Francis remembered in Ireland

By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent

Massgoers in Dublin have been reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis. One worshipper arriving at the St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street – the seat of the Archbishop of Dublin – said: “I think he was a pope for the people as they say, really going out to see the people and listen to them.”

Another woman, visiting from Australia, said that “while we knew he was sick, somehow you just hope it doesn’t happen, but obviously he was too sick to stay with us. He has left us a wonderful legacy, brought a lot of freedom to people, and we are very grateful for that.”

Mass was led by Fr Selva Thomas, who brought a photo of Pope Francis to the altar.

“I feel very sad on the one hand because he brought so much joy to the Church,” he said.

“But on the other hand I am also filled with that hope he brought, that he’s safely in the hands of God, he has no more pain, no more worries, no more suffering.”

Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister, will speak to media later, but in a statement said the Church had lost “an exceptional leader.

Irish president Michael D Higgins has expressed “profound sadness”, saying Francis’s voice constituted a “consistent invocation of a shared humanity”.

Pope Francis will break tradition with his final resting place

The death of a pontiff kicks off a tightly choreographed series of events refined over centuries.

Pope Francis approved a stripped-down funeral for himself last year, breaking away from some traditions entirely.

After death, his body is blessed, dressed in papal vestments and exhibited in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. 

This is where hundreds of thousands will come to pay their respects, including foreign dignitaries and world leaders. 

In the past, the pope’s body was displayed on a raised platform, but Francis’s simplified funeral rites removed this. He will be lying in an open coffin instead, breaking from previous pageantry.

The simplification, according to the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Diego Ravelli, is meant “to emphasise even more that the Roman pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world”.

The pope’s funeral will most likely be held in St Peter’s Square, with mourners packing into the Vatican for the service. It will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, 91-year-old Italian Giovanni Battista Re.

Traditionally, the pope is then buried in the crypts beneath St Peter’s Basilica, where almost 100 popes are entombed.

But Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican.

He said in an interview in 2023 that he had picked the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, one of his favourite and most-frequented churches, as his final resting place.

Previous popes were then entombed in three coffins of cypress, zinc and elm nestled inside each other, but Francis ordered he be buried in a single coffin made of wood and zinc.