Mourning and questions after the Pope’s death
When Pope John Paul II died on the evening of April 2, 2005, the whole world knew it would come any moment. He has been on a death bed for days and the light in the window of his bedroom overlooking St. Peter’s Square has become a tangible connection with believers.
Twenty years later, Pope Francis’ death on Monday at the age of 88 came as a surprise, although he was still recovering after staying at a double pneumoni hospital. In the last few days, Francis made several public appearances. Although very short, they sent calming signals that he was determined slowly to return to work.
The cause of the death of Francis I was announced
When John Paul died, tens of thousands of people prayed in the square all day and in the evening. Under the news from Archbishop (now Cardinal), Leonardo Sandri, the crowd cried, but was not surprised.
Francis died in his small apartment at the Santa Martha Guest House, where he chose to live after his election in 2013, abandoning the spacious papal apartments in the apostolic palace, which looks at St. Peter’s Square and symbolically turns to the world.
The windows of Francis’ apartment look at a small courtyard, near the Basilica of St. Peter and an impressive centuries-old defensive wall that outlines the border between the smallest country in the world and Rome. As no one was looking at his windows on Monday morning, Francis died much more united.
Pope Benedict XVI, the immediate predecessor of Francis, died at the age of 95 in 2022 outside the light of public attention after retiring from the papal post in 2013.
