Several appearances at Easter: the last days of Pope Francis

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. In the last days before his death, the 88-year-old showed himself in public several times. On Easter Sunday he also spoke the blessing Urbi et Orbi (the city and the earth) on St. Peter’s Square. The Argentinian already seemed very weak. An overview of the last few days in the life of the Pope.

Francis dies at 7.35 a.m. A good two hours later, the Holy Stuhl announces his death. Due to pneumonia, he was in Rome in the Gemelli Hospital for 38 days in spring. Most recently, he stayed in his residence in the Vatican: in the Santa Marta guest house near St. Peter’s Basilica.

In front of 35,000 people on St. Peter’s Square, Francis donated the blessing Urbi et Orbi (the city and the earth) at noon. His voice is very weak. He does not bring out more than two sentences. His Easter message is read out by a clergyman while he is standing silent in a wheelchair. Then he can be driven across the square in the open papamobile. He already seems very weak.

Shortly before his last public appearance, around 11.30 a.m., Francis welcomes the Catholic US Vice President JD Vance for a few minutes in his residence. It will be the last state guest from abroad.

Before Easter night, the Pope is brought to St. Peter’s Basis by helpers in a wheelchair. He is not there at the most important trade fair on Easter night. The Italian Giovanni Battista re, dean of the Cardinal College celebrates the service.

The Pope is also represented by high-ranking cardinals at the Kreuzweg-Servacht on Good Friday on the Colosseum. Because of his battered health, he had missed the prayer the year before.

As every year, Francis visits a prison shortly before Easter. He can be brought to Regina Coeli in Rome, where he is greeted with applause from about 70 inmates. In contrast to earlier years, Francis does not have to wash their feet in a gesture of humility in prisoners.

Francis surprisingly visits the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome to pray there. In the Marienkirche from the fifth century, very close to Rome’s main station, he will also find his last peace – not in St. Peter’s Basilica, like many other popes. The basilica was one of the favorite places of Jorge Mario Bergoglio during his lifetime.

He has the most unusual appearance one and a half weeks before Easter. After a round with a wheelchair through the Vatican, he lets himself roll into the St. Peter’s Basilica – apparently a spontaneous idea. Francis does not wear his usual white pope robe, but a black trousers, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a kind of blanket or poncho. In his nose he has a hose over which he is supplied with additional oxygen because of his breathing problems.