Last days of the Pope who joined the crowds of the Vatican on Easter, despite the advice of doctors

At noon on Monday, church bells in Italy began to refer. Pope Francis was dead.

It didn’t even take 24 hours, as he made a surprising appearance on the balcony overlooking the Saint Peter Square, blessing 35,000 people gathered to celebrate Easter in the Vatican.

The pope was breathing alone without oxygen tubes, although his doctors were told to spend two months, recovering in 38 days in a hospital with dual pneumonia.

In the last two weeks, Francis has been doing what he has always done, received visitors and met people from every walk of life.

When he appeared on Easter Sunday, the crowd from below erupted in toast when he appeared; Then he paused.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I wish you a happy Easter,” he said with his voice difficult with effort.

They had to be his last words in public.

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“I think people could feel something – as if they could say that this was the last time they would see it,” said Mauro, a resident of Rome, who was on St. Peter’s Square for the Easter Liturgy and now returned to give his respect.

“Usually everyone is shouting” long alive to the Pope! “… This time it was much more than usual, maybe there was more respect for his suffering.”

“He blessed us, but his voice was flakes,” a man named Alberto told the BBC. “I think he gave us his last goodbye.”

Doctors who treated Francis at Jameli Hospital in Rome have prescribed a full rest regime – but it is never likely a typically active pope who has spent much of his papal meeting, people to treat it.

Francis has already made it clear that he wanted to return to the Vatican on time for Easter, as soon as the specialists who treat him explained that his health problems would not be resolved quickly.

For Christians, Easter is even more important than Christmas, as it symbolizes the basic principle of their faith – the rebirth of Christ, three days after its attachment to the cross.

Before being discharged on March 23, Francis also removed crowds from the hospital and then headed back to his neighborhoods at the guest house of Casa Santa Martha, he returned.

His medical team said that everything he needed was oxygen, and the recovery there was better than the hospital with all his infections.

Easter was only three weeks old and, as it approached, the Pope’s schedule was getting worse.

He met with King Charles and Queen Camilla in Casa San Martha and then appeared on the Vatican Balcony for Tsvetnitsa four days later on April 13, mixing with a crowd of 20,000 people at St. Peter Square against the advice of doctors.

But for the Pope Easter was the most important moment of all.

Last Thursday, as he had done many times earlier, and as before in his native Argentina, before becoming a pope, he visited Regina Celei Prison in Rome, where he spent half an hour meeting prisoners and was greeted by applause from staff and security when he arrived in a wheelchair.

In previous years, he washed the prisoners’ legs, reflecting what Jesus is said to have done with his disciples the night before his death.

“This year I am not able to do it, but I can and I can still be close to you,” he said in a weak voice of the dozens of prisoners who had come to see him and who cheered him as he toured prison.

“We are so lucky. Those outside cannot see it and we do it,” a man told the Italian media.

As he left prison, Francis was asked by a journalist how he would experience Easter this year.

“In any way,” he replied.

And on Sunday, he kept his promise.

He held a brief meeting with US Vice President JD Vance before appearing in front of the crowds of St. Peter’s square when the crowd bursts into cheers.

He made his last blessing – the Urbi et Orbi address in Latin, which means “for the city and in the world.” Then Archbishop Diego Raveli read a speech written by the Pope while Francis sat silently beside him.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, he descended down to St. Peter’s square, where he was prompted in an open peak-distinctive little white Mercedes-Benz used by Popes to meet crowds.

The camera followed him as he raised his hand to bless the right lining of the sunny square, and several babies were removed closer to him. It was the last time the world saw him alive.

Looking at Francis’ blessing on Sunday, Alberto from Rome thought it would not last much longer, although the Pope’s death still came as a shock.

“I didn’t feel happy to see him, I could say that he was experiencing pain,” he said. “But it was an honor for me to see him last time.”

Francis died early on Monday at her beloved cashier, Santa Martha, a 100-sided simple rooms run by nuns and open to pilgrims and visitors.

Just over two hours later, Cardinal Chamberlain or Camerlengo stood in Casa Santa Marta and made the news public.

The Vatican said on Monday night that he had died of stroke and irreversible heart failure.

The Pope’s rooms were far from the wealth of the Vatican neighborhoods, usually intended for the pontiffs, which Francis had refused at the beginning of his papacy, saying he needed to “live among people”.

“If I lived by myself, maybe even a little isolated, it would not be helpful to me,” he said then.

In the coming days, the cardinals from around the world will remain in Casa Santa Martha as they gather in Rome for a conclave, who will choose the heir of Francis.

Outside, in the bright sun on St. Peter’s Square, people mixed with priests and brothers under the impressive basilica.

A group of nuns, dressed in gray and white, looked at a man who, headphones, danced around the square. “Without respect,” they pulled out.

The same big screens that broadcast the Pope’s blessing for Easter, now showed a photo of Francis, a smiling and an announcement that a special rosary was being held for him 12 hours after his death.

This would allow the Catholics near and far to pray for their pope – and thank him for celebrating the last Easter with them.