Pope Francis died of stroke – Vatican
Pope Francis died of a stroke, causing a coma and “irreversible” heart failure, according to his death certificate released by the Vatican on Monday.
The 88-year-old Catholic leader died on Monday morning, almost a month after having been discharged from five weeks in hospital where he nearly succumbed to double pneumonia.
Francis died at 7.35 am (0535 GMT) in his apartment at the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. He died of “cerebral stroke, coma, irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse”, the death certificate said.
The pontiff had already been affected by a previous episode of acute respiratory failure when he had double pneumonia in hospital, it added.
He had also suffered from arterial hypertension, multiple bronchiectasis and Type 2 diabetes — something that was not previously known.
It was signed by the director of health of the Vatican City State, Professor Andrea Arcangeli.
Pope Francis was born in a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, in Argentina to an Italian immigrant, Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. His father, Mario Bergoglio had left Italy to Argentina in 1929 to escape the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini.
He was an Argentinian, the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), also the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere.
Pope Francis was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969. From 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.
He became Pope Francis on 13 March 2013 after he was consecrated as the sovereign of the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013.
He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, concern for the poor and commitment to interreligious dialogue.
