Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.
Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived.
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FILE - Pope Francis waves to faithful as he is driven through the crowd during his visit to the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Monday July 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis drinks from a mate gourd at the end of his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis is presented with a cake by Valentina Alazraki, correspondent for TeleVisa Univision, to celebrate his upcoming Dec. 17, 88th birthday, on the flight back to Rome at the end of his one-day visit to Ajaccio in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, File)
FILE - Pope Francis prays as he holds an envelope before placing it in on of the cracks between the stones of the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, in the old city of Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool, file)
FILE - Pope Francis walks through the gate of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives in a wheelchair at the end of a mass in St. Peter's Square, part of the Jubilee of the sick and the health workers, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, the day of his election, March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
A priest holds a sacrament bowl showing a photograph of Pope Francis at a Holy Mass at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
FILE - Pope Francis greets a child as he walks in procession at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe before celebrating Mass in Mexico City, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
Pope Francis and Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria Del Corral, left, look at Newell's Old Boys captain, Argentine midfielder Maxi Rodriguez juggling a soccer ball at the launch of the 'Scholas Occurrentes' (Latin for, schools of meeting) international educational movement at the pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
FILE - Pope Francis greets a group of Mexican pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican during his weekly general audience, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of a private audience at the Vatican, June 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool, File)
FILE - Pope Francis passes a portrait of himself as he arrives to meet youths in Santo Tomas University in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
The Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up with an image of Pope Francis to mark the launch of his book, "Life: My Story Through History," in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
FILE - Pope Francis presides over the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday, a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, in front of Rome's Colosseum, in Rome, Friday, April 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file)
Ivanka Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting, Wednesday, May 24, 2017, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Pope Francis prays at Israel's separation barrier on his way to a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Sunday, May 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, file)
FILE - Pope Francis gestures as he attends an annual gathering of pro-family organisations at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, in Rome, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, white figure standing alone at center, delivers an Urbi et orbi prayer from the empty St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Friday, March 27, 2020. (Yara Nardi/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, seen with a bruise on his head after he banged it on the popemobile when it stopped short amid swarms of well-wishers, talks to journalists during a press conference he held on board the flight to Rome, at the end of a five-day visit to Colombia, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, pool, file)
FILE - Pope Francis, centre, sits as the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI St. Peter's Square is carrying during a funeral mass at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis helped to get on his car at the end of weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis meets Spider-Man, who presents him with his mask, at the end of his weekly general audience with a limited number of faithful in the San Damaso Courtyard at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, left, and Pope Francis meet, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in front of a gigantic statue of former Khagan of the Mongol Empire Genghis Khan in Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
FILE - Pope Francis wears a traditional Mexican sombrero hat he received as a gift by a Mexican journalist aboard the plane during the flight from Rome to Habana, Cuba, on his way to a week-long trip to Mexico, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. (Alessandro Di Meo/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2009 file photo, Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio gives a Mass outside the San Cayetano church where an Argentine flag hangs behind in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)
FILE - Pope Francis leaves after celebrating the Palm Sunday's mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 2, 2023, a day after being discharged from the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, where he has been treated for bronchitis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Pope Francis consoles Serena Subania who lost her daughter Angelica, 5 years old, the day before as he leaves the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital after receiving treatment for a bronchitis, in Rome, Saturday, April 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff as he leaves after celebrating a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, to mark Epiphany, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - A seagull flies in front of Pope Francis as he speaks to the faithful gathered under pouring rain in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the traditional Sunday's noon blessing after the Angelus prayer, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blows it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, second from left, looks at traditional dancers performing at the Martyrs' Stadium In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis leaves after an audience with "Pueri Cantores", the official student Catholic choral organization, in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis speaks to journalists during the papal flight direct to Rio de Janeiro, Monday, July 22, 2013. (Luca Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP, File)
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
FILE - Pope Francis waves to faithful as he is driven through the crowd during his visit to the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Monday July 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis drinks from a mate gourd at the end of his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis is presented with a cake by Valentina Alazraki, correspondent for TeleVisa Univision, to celebrate his upcoming Dec. 17, 88th birthday, on the flight back to Rome at the end of his one-day visit to Ajaccio in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool, File)
FILE - Pope Francis prays as he holds an envelope before placing it in on of the cracks between the stones of the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, in the old city of Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool, file)
FILE - Pope Francis walks through the gate of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives in a wheelchair at the end of a mass in St. Peter's Square, part of the Jubilee of the sick and the health workers, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, the day of his election, March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
A priest holds a sacrament bowl showing a photograph of Pope Francis at a Holy Mass at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
FILE - Pope Francis greets a child as he walks in procession at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe before celebrating Mass in Mexico City, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
Pope Francis and Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria Del Corral, left, look at Newell's Old Boys captain, Argentine midfielder Maxi Rodriguez juggling a soccer ball at the launch of the 'Scholas Occurrentes' (Latin for, schools of meeting) international educational movement at the pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
FILE - Pope Francis greets a group of Mexican pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican during his weekly general audience, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of a private audience at the Vatican, June 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool, File)
FILE - Pope Francis passes a portrait of himself as he arrives to meet youths in Santo Tomas University in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
The Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up with an image of Pope Francis to mark the launch of his book, "Life: My Story Through History," in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
FILE - Pope Francis presides over the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday, a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, in front of Rome's Colosseum, in Rome, Friday, April 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file)
Ivanka Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting, Wednesday, May 24, 2017, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Pope Francis prays at Israel's separation barrier on his way to a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Sunday, May 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, file)
FILE - Pope Francis gestures as he attends an annual gathering of pro-family organisations at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, in Rome, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, white figure standing alone at center, delivers an Urbi et orbi prayer from the empty St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Friday, March 27, 2020. (Yara Nardi/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, seen with a bruise on his head after he banged it on the popemobile when it stopped short amid swarms of well-wishers, talks to journalists during a press conference he held on board the flight to Rome, at the end of a five-day visit to Colombia, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, pool, file)
FILE - Pope Francis, centre, sits as the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI St. Peter's Square is carrying during a funeral mass at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis helped to get on his car at the end of weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis meets Spider-Man, who presents him with his mask, at the end of his weekly general audience with a limited number of faithful in the San Damaso Courtyard at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, left, and Pope Francis meet, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in front of a gigantic statue of former Khagan of the Mongol Empire Genghis Khan in Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
FILE - Pope Francis wears a traditional Mexican sombrero hat he received as a gift by a Mexican journalist aboard the plane during the flight from Rome to Habana, Cuba, on his way to a week-long trip to Mexico, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. (Alessandro Di Meo/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2009 file photo, Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio gives a Mass outside the San Cayetano church where an Argentine flag hangs behind in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)
FILE - Pope Francis leaves after celebrating the Palm Sunday's mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 2, 2023, a day after being discharged from the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, where he has been treated for bronchitis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Pope Francis consoles Serena Subania who lost her daughter Angelica, 5 years old, the day before as he leaves the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital after receiving treatment for a bronchitis, in Rome, Saturday, April 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff as he leaves after celebrating a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, to mark Epiphany, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)
FILE - A seagull flies in front of Pope Francis as he speaks to the faithful gathered under pouring rain in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the traditional Sunday's noon blessing after the Angelus prayer, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blows it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, second from left, looks at traditional dancers performing at the Martyrs' Stadium In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - Pope Francis leaves after an audience with "Pueri Cantores", the official student Catholic choral organization, in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - Pope Francis speaks to journalists during the papal flight direct to Rio de Janeiro, Monday, July 22, 2013. (Luca Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP, File)
