Pope Francis, who served as the leader of the Catholic Church since 2013, has died at the age of 88.
“Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta,” the Vatican announced via social media on Monday, April 21.
“Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” a statement from Cardinal Kevin Farrell said.
“At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalized,” Farrell continued.
“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 the Triune God,” Farrell concluded.
The pope’s death came just hours after he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, April 20, to wish the gathered crowd a happy Easter.
The Holy Father was first hospitalized on February 14 when he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital for bronchitis. He later began receiving care for double pneumonia, meaning pneumonia in both of his lungs.
While doctors revealed that Francis was doing better, his condition suffered a “sudden worsening” on February 28 after “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm.”
A bronchospasm is when the muscles in the bronchi — the airways that connect the lungs to the windpipe — tighten and cause airways to narrow, limiting the intake of oxygen, the Cleveland Clinic explained.
For nearly 12 years, Francis served as the head of the Catholic Church. While he called Vatican City home, the religious leader made it a priority to go out to the peripheries of the world during his years of service.
In 2015, Francis made a trip to the United States and traveled from Washington, D.C. to New York City to Philadelphia. At the time, many celebrities expressed their positive feelings about him.
“This pope is inspiring for me as an American, as a woman, as a Catholic,” Maria Shriver told People after covering his visits for the Today show. “It was really very moving to be here.”
Other famous Catholics including Mark Wahlberg, Mario Lopez, Sunny Hostin and Jim Gaffigan have spoken out about their appreciation for Francis.
“I guess you could say the Pope is like a Catholic superhero,” Gaffigan, 58, said on CBS Sunday Morning in September 2015 before performing comedy in front of the Holy Father. “You’ve got the cape, the hat, heck his car is even called the Pope-mobile. It’s so nice to hear a world leader say, ‘Who am I to judge?’”
Celebrities who do not identify as Catholic also expressed their support of a leader who spent much of his position focusing on the poor and reminding people that all are welcome in church.
In June 2024, Whoopi Goldberg — who famously brought Francis paraphernalia from her 1992 movie Sister Act — joined nearly 100 comedians from around the world to visit the Holy Father in Vatican City.
“The pope decided that he wanted to tell us that what we did as humorists and comics was kind of important and wonderful,” she said on The View when recalling her trip with Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien and other stars. “It had less to do with our religious affiliations than it had to do with him giving us a message that we matter as humorists, which was moving and wonderful to hear.”
In a separate segment on The View, Goldberg, 69, reiterated how impressed she was by Francis.
“He’s a human being as it turns out, which is what I really like, and he is doing his best to be a human for everybody,” she said. “He knows that we’re all flawed. He’s flawed, I’m flawed, you’re flawed. But he’s, like, ‘Listen. We can bring the best we can, bring the best of us.’”
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