From the moment of his election, Pope Francis made clear from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica that his first mandate was to serve as bishop of Rome and be close with the people.
“We take up this journey: the bishop and the people,” he said March 13, 2013, before delivering his first blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and to the world). “Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity.”
In what would be his final public appearance before his death on April 21, the pope gave his last “urbi et rbi” blessing, urging world peace. More surprisingly, the convalescent pope boarded his popemobile one last time to greet the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Following his release from Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 23, doctors ordered the pope to begin a two-month period of recovery at the Vatican. Yet, upon leaving the hospital, he couldn’t help but make a detour to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which houses the Marian icon the pope would often pray to, especially before and after every papal trip.
Unable to enter the basilica, the pope left a bouquet of flowers for Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of St. Mary Major, to place in front of the Marian icon.
Although he kept to his prescribed recovery and was not seen in public, two weeks after his release from the hospital, the pope made a surprise appearance at the end of the closing Mass for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers.
Straining his voice, the pope wished the faithful: “A happy Sunday to all of you, many thanks!”
On April 9, he met privately with King Charles and Queen Camilla. The Vatican announced that the meeting took place despite the fact that it was originally postponed due to the pope’s frail health.
Following news of the pope’s death, King Charles said he and the queen were “saddened” and were “greatly moved to have been able to visit him earlier in the month.”
However, on April 10, the day after his visit with the royals, the pontiff took many by surprise when he appeared in St. Peter’s Basilica clad in a simple white shirt, black trousers and a blanket. According to the Vatican, the pope went to view the ongoing restoration work at the basilica, as well as to pray at the tomb of St. Pius X.
He also spent several minutes greeting shocked tourists and pilgrims at the basilica.
While no reason was given as to why the pope prayed at the tomb of St. Pius X, it was no secret that Pope Francis admired his predecessor.
In the preface to the book, “Tribute to Pius X: Contemporary Portraits” written by Italian Father Lucio Bonora, the pope said he held St. Pius in high esteem. He also noted that his late predecessor “wept at the onset of the (First) World War” and pleaded “with the powerful to lay down their arms.”
“How close I feel to him in this tragic moment of the modern world,” Pope Francis wrote.
No one will know whether Pope Francis knew his time was coming to an end. Although his health was frail, his voice in his few public appearances, while strained, seemed much stronger.
Nevertheless, some may speculate that despite his need to recover, his more frequent appearances during Holy Week signaled a sort of goodbye to those he remained close to during his pontificate.
On April 12, on the eve of Palm Sunday, the pope visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major for what would become his last time praying before the Marian icon to which he was so devoted.
The icon, named “Salus Populi Romani” (“Health of the Roman people”), is where the pope would pray before and after every international trip, as well any notable event, such as when he was released from the hospital in 2021 after undergoing intestinal surgery.
It is near the icon where the pope will also be laid to rest, as per his wishes. In his autobiography, “Hope,” the pope said he wanted to be buried near the icon.
“The Vatican is the home of my last service, not my eternal home. I will go in the room where they now keep the candelabra, close to the Regina della Pace (Queen of Peace) from whom I have always sought help, and who embrace I have felt more than a hundred times during the course of my papacy,” he wrote.
The following day, on Palm Sunday, the pope made an appearance at the end of the Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Seeming in good spirits and not wearing the nasal cannula that delivered oxygen, he briefly spoke to the faithful: “Have a good Palm Sunday. Have a good Holy Week.”
On April 16, he met with health care workers and medical staff who took care of him during his long stay at Gemelli Hospital. “I pray for you; please, do so for me, thank you. And thank you for your service in the hospital, very good, keep it up,” he said.
The pope did not allow his illness to get in the way of his customary visits to a detention facility on Holy Thursday, April 17. Meeting with some 70 inmates at Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, the pope noted that “every year I like to do what Jesus did on Holy Thursday, washing feet, in a prison.”
“This year I cannot do it, but I can and want to be close to you. I pray for you and your families,” he said.
Upon leaving the prison, the pope’s car stopped near a group of journalists. Speaking about his visit to the prison, he said: “Every time I enter these doors, I ask myself, ‘Why them and not me?'”
On Good Friday he was unable to join pilgrims at the Colosseum but in his reflections he enclosed a farewell message to the world:
Jesus came to change the world and, “for us, that means changing direction, seeing the goodness of your path, letting the memory of your glance transform our hearts,” he wrote in the introduction to the commentaries and prayers.
“We need only hear his invitation: ‘Come! Follow me!’ And trust in that gaze of love,” and from there “everything blossoms anew,” he wrote, and places torn by conflict can move toward reconciliation, and “a heart of stone can turn into a heart of flesh.”
On Easter Sunday, one day before his death, the pope met briefly with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. The meeting was cordial despite differences between the Trump administration’s hardline view on immigration and humanitarian situations.
Not long after, the pope made his way to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica for what would be his final “urbi et orbi” blessing. Straining his voice and barely able to raise his hands in blessing, the appreciative throng of pilgrims applauded, even more so when he boarded his popemobile to greet them one last time.
On his final day of earthly life, Pope Francis ended his pontificate as he began it more than 12 years ago, upon his election: embarking on the journey of a bishop with his people.
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