Pope Francis, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, has died.
He was 88.
The Vatican announced his death on Monday, Apr. 21.
The pope died at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta.
Pope Francis became head of the Catholic Church in March 2013.
He was the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
The Argentine pontiff had been recovering at the Santa Marta guesthouse after he was hospitalised for five weeks with life-threatening pneumonia.
He almost died twice while in hospital.
His lungs were damaged due to the double pneumonia, doctors said.
He returned to the Vatican for a convalescence of at least two months after being discharged on Mar. 23.
Before his admission to the hospital, the pope had a history of respiratory issues and had one of his lungs partially removed at age 21.
A chest X-ray in early April confirmed a "slight improvement" in Pope Francis' lungs.
He was well enough to remove the cannula that administered oxygen for short periods.
The pope had issued statements acknowledging his fragile health, including one on Mar. 16.
"I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: Fragile, at this time, like me," he wrote.
The People's Pope
Born in 1936 to Italian immigrants from Argentina, he was the first Latin American to lead the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis, whose secular name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was the first pope from the Americas, according to The Holy See Press Office.
He became Archbishop of Buenos Aires, his hometown, in 1998.
Following Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Pope Francis was elected as the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church on Mar. 13, 2023.
He earned the nickname "People's Pope" for meeting individuals from all walks of life, such as people with disabilities and prisoners, and speaking up for their needs, such as equal pay for women, reported NBC News.
Papal visits
Pope Francis had maintained an active schedule, both at home and abroad, undertaking several papal visits to all corners of the globe, even to places where it might be considered dangerous for Catholic popes to travel to, such as Iraq.
He remained active well into his final years as pope, taking on a tour of Southeast Asia that included Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
Pope Francis’s visit to Singapore, only the second by a Catholic pope, took place over the span of three days.
He was met by worshippers upon his arrival, who crowded Changi Airport's Jurassic Mile before meeting with various catholic leaders, including Cardinal William Goh.
Goh is the first Singaporean Cardinal and was ordained by Francis in 2022.
He is expected to be part of the conclave that will meet to elect Francis’s replacement.
Courageous, critical, and constructive
The highlight of his trip was his celebration of mass with over 50,000 Singapore-based Catholics at the National Stadium.
Francis went around the stadium in a buggy, blessing children as he passed.
During his final public visit of the trip, he spoke to a group of inter-religious Singapore youth, memorably casting his script aside to speak candidly to the youth, encouraging them to take risks.
He said: "A young person that is afraid and doesn't take risks is an old person."
He encouraged young people to be critical, but also to be open to critique, warning that critique ultimately had to be constructive.
Pope Francis asked the audience: "Do you have the courage to criticise, but at the same time the courage to allow yourself to be criticised?"
If not, criticism can be "destructive".
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Top images via Vatican News/Facebook
