Pope Francis Passes Away at 88 on Easter Monday

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Apr. 21, 2025

Pope Francis, the Argentinian-born Catholic leader who helped liberalize the Church over his 12 years at the head of the Vatican, passed away on Easter Monday at age 88.

"Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, The Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the Father's house. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church," the Vatican said in a statement early Monday.

"He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of God, One and Triune."

"Before his death, Francis had experienced several health issues and spent five weeks in the hospital in February and March with bronchitis that developed into pneumonia in both lungs," CBS News noted. "He marked the 12th anniversary of his papacy from his hospital room."

"The cause of Pope Francis' death has been identified as a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse," Vatican News reported.

Though Francis' liberal social policies left much to be desired, in Dec 2023 he boldly condemned the Jewish state's assault on Gaza as "terrorism."

At the Angelus, Pope Francis says the attacks by the IDF on the Catholic Parish of Holy Family in Gaza, which resulted in the assassination of two people, and the bombing of a convent of the Sisters of Charity, "it is terrorism" pic.twitter.com/mVEltpk67a
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) December 17, 2023

Israel's bombing of children in Gaza was "cruelty" and "not war," Pope Francis said a year later.

every day since the Gaza genocide began Pope Francis made sure to call the parish there to check with them and lift their spirits amidst the Israeli mass indiscriminate bombing, starvation, torture and killing. He did this even as he became ill recently: pic.twitter.com/wIbh79FyAR
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) April 21, 2025

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