The Foreign Office has issued a new travel warning for all those travelling to Italy’s capital, Rome, and the Vatican after Pope Francis’s death, which was announced on Easter Monday. Tourists have been urged to “follow the advice” of the authorities as large crowds are expected in Rome and the Vatican.
The update read: “Following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April, large crowds are expected in Rome and the Vatican City over the coming days. Please follow the advice of local authorities.” Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican, Casa Santa Marta. After 38 days in the hospital, the late Pope returned to his Vatican residence to continue his recovery. The Vatican confirmed the pontiff died at 07:35 local time on Monday.
A large number of people gathered in St Peter’s Square, in Vatican City, to pay their respects shortly after the announcement of the pope’s passing was made.
According to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the late Pope Francis had requested that the funeral rites be simplified and focused on expressing the faith of the Church in the Risen Body of Christ.
“The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”
Born to Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Francis was the eldest of five children. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969 and led the religious order in Argentina during the country’s murderous dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
Francis became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and elevated to cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He was elected the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, on the fifth ballot.
He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis, after St Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century saint.
