{"id":93633,"date":"2025-04-21T16:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T16:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93633"},"modified":"2025-04-21T16:44:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T16:44:28","slug":"pope-francis-dies-at-88-a-day-after-easter-sunday-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93633","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis dies at 88, a day after Easter Sunday appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

He died on Monday at 7:35 am, a day after making a much-hoped-for appearance at Saint Peter\u2019s Square on Easter Sunday, the Vatican said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDearest brothers and sisters, it is with deep sorrow that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,\u201d Cardinal Kevin Farrell said in the statement published by the Vatican on its Telegram channel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning at 7:35 am (0535 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father.\u201d His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Francis\u2019s death came just a day after he delighted the crowds of worshippers at the Vatican on Easter Sunday with an appearance on the balcony at Saint Peter\u2019s Basilica despite still convalescing after a severe illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

He had come close to dying twice earlier this year while suffering from pneumonia.<\/span><\/p>\n

He spent 38 days in hospital before he was released on March 23.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday, he wished the crowds on Saint Peter\u2019s Square a \u201cHappy Easter\u201d as he waved and in his traditional \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (\u201cTo the City and the World\u201d) benediction, he called for freedom of thought and tolerance.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Cardinal Bergoglio from Argentina he was already in his seventies when he became Pope in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

His papacy paved the way for many firsts, and while he never stopped introducing reforms to the Catholic Church, he remained popular among traditionalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was the first Pope from the Americas and the first non-European in centuries; not since Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741 had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome.<\/span><\/p>\n

His predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first Pope to retire voluntarily in almost 600 years, and for almost 10 years, the Vatican Gardens hosted two popes.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was also the first Jesuit to be elected to the throne of St Peter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Report by AFP<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He died on Monday at 7:35 am, a day after making a much-hoped-for appearance at Saint Peter\u2019s Square on Easter Sunday, the Vatican said in a statement. \u201cDearest brothers and sisters, it is with deep sorrow that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,\u201d Cardinal Kevin Farrell said in the statement published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":93635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772,7,5781],"tags":[7079,1259,3070],"class_list":["post-93633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","category-news","category-obituary","tag-7079","tag-easter","tag-pope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}