Cardinals are set to convene a meeting on Tuesday in the Vatican to plan Pope Francis’ funeral with world leaders, including Donald Trump, due to attend the ceremony.
Pope Francis, 88, died following a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure, the Vatican has said.
In his final testament, the pontiff expressed his wish to be buried at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, and not at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican like many previous pontiffs.
The will specified that Francis wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
King Charles and Mr Trump led the tributes for the 88-year-old, who was the head of the Catholic church for 12 years.
The pope was hospitalised for several weeks in February, after suffering from a bout of double pneumonia. He returned to the Vatican in mid-March to recover.
Pope Francis, originally from Argentina and the first pope from Latin America, led the 1.4 billion-member church since 2013.
In pictures: Mourners gather outside the Vatican
Holly Evans22 April 2025 08:04
Pontiff’s final wishes and place of burial
The will specified the late pontiff wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
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Holly Evans22 April 2025 07:46
Anonymous benefactor to pay for Pope Francis funeral
An anonymous benefactor will pay for the cost of Pope Francis’s funeral, the Vatican has said.
“The expenses for the preparation of my burial will be covered by the sum of the benefactor that I have arranged,” Francis’s will said.
Cardinals will meet on Tuesday morning for the first time since the Pope died to confirm the details of his funeral.
Those currently in Rome have been invited to meet at 8am BST (9am local time) to commence planning, according to the BBC.
Holly Evans22 April 2025 07:35
India declares 3 days of mourning
The Indian flag flew at half-staff on Tuesday at all government buildings as the country observed three days of mourning as a mark of the respect for Pope Francis.
The Indian flag will be flown half-staff on government buildings across the country for the next two days, as well as on the day of the pontiff’s funeral, the Home Ministry said in a statement.
Holly Evans22 April 2025 07:29
Australian election campaign paused after pope’s death
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton paused their election campaigns this morning in the wake of Pope Francis’s death.
Mr Albanese held a press conference to confirm he is cancelling a number of events and said “the first Pope from the southern hemisphere was close to the people of Australia”.
He announced that Commonwealth flags would fly at half-mast for the rest of the day.
It was after Mr Dutton said the time was not for “big politicking” and confirming the suspension of his own campaign.
Shweta Sharma22 April 2025 07:15
East Timor starts seven days of mourning for Pope Francis’ death
Timor-Leste, a tiny southeast Asian nation also known as East Timor where some 97 per cent of the population is Catholic, has begun seven days of national mourning to mark the death of Pope Francis.
People gathered on Tuesday for prayers and flags were flying at half-mast across the tropical island nation.
Francis last year became the first pope to visit the country in more than 30 years during his Asia tour, following in the footsteps of John Paul II, whose own visit gave Timor-Leste’s movement for independence from Indonesia a historic boost and rare prominence on the global stage.
“It is the duty of the state, on behalf of the Timorese people, to demonstrate a deep sense of gratitude and recognition, paying a deserved tribute to this great leader of the Catholic Church,” a statement from the country’s Council of Ministers said in announcing the mourning period on Tuesday.
More than 97 per cent of Timor-Leste is Catholic, making it one of the largest majorities in the world outside the Vatican, and, along with the Philippines, it is one of only two predominantly Christian countries in Asia.
More than 600,000 people – or nearly half its 1.3 million population – turned out to see Francis last year during his 12-day visit to Asia and Oceania.
Shweta Sharma22 April 2025 06:57
Pope Francis’s moral leadership on climate crisis
His 12 years of papacy marked a turning point in how the Catholic Church – and by extension, billions around the world – engage with issues of environmental justice, sustainability, and the moral dimensions of climate change.
He passed on the simple message of the social consequences of human influence on the planet as world leaders deliberated the technical and economic aspects of the crisis.
He said humankind was turning the glorious creation of God into a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth”, and said the cause of the climate crisis was the people’s “selfish and boundless thirst for power”.
Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, subtitled “On Care for Our Common Home,” is widely regarded as his most significant contribution to global climate discourse.
In it, he reframed the environmental crisis as not just a scientific or political issue, but a deeply moral and spiritual challenge. He calls on humanity to hear “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” linking ecological degradation to global inequality.
He declared a global climate emergency in 2019 and held a conference on “the economics of the common good” in his final months.
Laurence Tubiana, chief of the European Climate Foundation who is also one of the architects of the 2015 Paris agreement, called the pope an “important voice” in a social media post.“By clearly setting out the causes of the crisis we are experiencing, [he] reminded us who the fight against the climate crisis is aimed at: humanity as a whole.”
Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley described Pope Francis as a “beacon of global moral and strategic leadership,” crediting him with offering guidance and inspiration during the “dark and desolate days” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“His voice comforted and inspired many. His hands led him to places where others dared not go, and his heart knew no boundaries. His humour and his laughter were not only infectious but calming. Let us, each and every day, see, hear, and feel people – to fight the globalisation of indifference.”
Shweta Sharma22 April 2025 06:36
Landmarks around the world marked the death of Pope
Iconic buildings around the world remembered Pope Francis following his death on Monday.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris went dark in remembrance, and the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square became a gathering place for mourners.
The Empire State Building in New York was illuminated in memory of Pope Francis on Monday night.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia flew its flags at half-mast, as did several state buildings around the world, including the White House in the US and the presidential office in Taiwan.
And in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis’ portrait was projected on the Obelisk.
Shweta Sharma22 April 2025 05:58
Who could be the next Pope?
The death of Pope Francis on Monday sets in motion a centuries-old ritual involving sacred oaths, performed by the cardinals who will elect his successor.
The process of electing a new Pope is shrouded in secrecy, with cardinals forbidden from communicating with the outside world what happens in the conclave, which takes place within the frescoed walls of the Sistine Chapel.
The pontiff’s age, along with his health concerns in recent years – including his recent complex lung infection – led to questions being asked well before his death about who would succeed him.
Here we break down what we know about the favourites – and those with an outside chance.
Shweta Sharma22 April 2025 05:26
