Hundreds of thousands of mourners have lined up to pay their respects and bid farewell to Pope Francis ahead of the Holy Father’s funeral on Saturday, April 26. Pope Francis, 88 years old, died on Easter Monday, April 21, after a weeks-long health battle. His body has been lying in state since Wednesday, April 23, in St. Peter’s Basilica. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend the funeral, the White House said. Other world leaders are expected to attend, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Britain’s Prince William, who will attend the funeral on behalf of his father, King Charles III. Also attending are U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Pope Francis died after suffering a stroke and heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said in a death certificate released on Monday, Reuters reported. The pope had fallen into a coma before his death, according to the certificate, which was published by the Vatican. His death came weeks after a lengthy battle with double pneumonia and other health issues. Pope Francis had reportedly been struggling to breathe and speak before being admitted on Feb. 14 to a Rome hospital, where he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. During the five-week hospital stay, the pope underwent procedures known as bronchoscopies to clear his air passages. The pope was also diagnosed with a polymicrobial infection and then mild renal insufficiency. At one point, physicians considered halting treatment to allow Pope Francis to die peacefully.
After 38 days in the hospital, the pope was released March 23 from the hospital to return to his Vatican residence at the Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery. Earlier this month, the Vatican had said the pope was improving. “Death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something,” he wrote, Reuters reported. “It is a new beginning… because eternal life, which those who love already begin to experience on earth, is the beginning of something that will never end. For this reason, that (death) is a ‘new’ beginning, because we will live something we have never fully lived before: eternity,” he wrote.
