Pope Francis has died, the Vatican says

Speaker A [00:00:00]: 

Some breaking news to bring you now. This is a statement from the Vatican. A short while ago His Eminence Cardinal Farrell announced with sorrow the death of Pope Francis. With these words he said the dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome Francis return to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the indefinite merciful love of the one who and triune got. This is a statement from the Vatican A short while ago His Eminence Cardinal Farrell announcing with sorrow the death of Pope Francis with the following Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome Francis returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalized. The statement goes on to read with immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. We commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite and merciful love of the one. Sadia Chowdhury, our correspondent joins us for this. This is a statement that has come through to us here at Sky News in just the last few moments. 

Speaker B [00:01:55]: 

Yeah, exactly. But we obviously knew that the Pope had been with ill health for a number of weeks. Now you may remember on Valentine's Day he was taken into hospital with respiratory disease, a severe respiratory disease. It was the most serious health crisis that he's been in and it was the longest time that we'd seen we'd had him be out of public view. He was in hospital for about five weeks and during that time we'd heard an audio message from him, but we didn't really see him. There was one occasion when he came to the window and the Vatican also released a photograph of him while he was in hospital. But he was in a very critical condition during that time. And then about five weeks after that they said that he was in a stable condition. So he had come out of intensive care and was in a regular ward. His vital signs had become steady and he was ready to go home and he was sent home with 24 hour medical care. He had oxygen to hand if he needed it and he was ordered to rest for about two months. And that was, you know, he was released from hospital just a mere few weeks ago. 

Speaker A [00:03:14]: 

You're watching Sky News. Breaking news in the past few moments, important news that the Vatican has announced that Pope Francis has died. He was 88. The pontiff had been in increasingly frail health in recent months and died in the Vatican after receiving treatment in Rome for a respiratory tract infection in previous months. Francis had been pope since March 2013, following the resignation of of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. He was born in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, a city where he was later made Archbishop and became the first Pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe since the 8th century. He was the first ever Jesuit Pontiff. And Saadia, in the last few moments we've had a statement from the Vatican. 

Speaker B [00:04:05]: 

Yes, a statement now confirming that Pope Francis has died. Of course, we knew that the 88 year old had been seriously ill for now a number of months and he had appeared at the Vatican just yesterday to wish Happy Easter to thousands of worshipers there. The statement saying, dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the House of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church. It goes on. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the most poorest and most marginalised. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the one and only God.