The church bells are ringing in Rome to honor the Pope, who passed away at 07:35 on Monday morning. The news came from Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is the camerlengo (chamberlain) of the Roman Catholic Church.
"He dedicated his whole life to serving the Lord and his Church," Farrell announced via the Vatican's news service.
Farrell, who temporarily takes over the daily work of leading the Vatican State, adds that the Pope lived "according to the Gospel with faith, courage, and all-encompassing love" especially towards the poorest and most vulnerable.
Francis is said to have woken up at around 06:00 at home in his apartment in the Vatican and felt fairly well. But about an hour later, he began to feel unwell and passed away shortly after.
The circumstances are likely to be made public by the Vatican on Monday evening, when the Pope's remains are placed in a coffin.
Tears in their eyes
Live footage from Rome shows how St. Peter's Square is filling up with people queuing to get into St. Peter's Basilica. Some are leaning against the old walls to pray, others are visibly saddened.
Tourist Cesarina Cireddu from Sardinia is one of them.
He survived Easter and then left us. He has returned to the Lord, may God be with him, she says to AFP with tears in her eyes.
Venezuelan Riccardo Vielma, who is studying to become a priest, is also moved.
We have lost our spiritual father. Now humanity must unite and pray for him, he says.
Held Easter sermon
The Pope's passing occurred less than 24 hours after he delivered his Easter sermon "urbi et orbi" ("to the city and the world") to 35,000 people on St. Peter's Square.
In it, the 88-year-old, who recently suffered from severe pneumonia, expressed his support for, among other things, religious and freedom of expression. He also warned against growing anti-Semitism and called for an end to the war in Gaza.
After the sermon, he took a jubilant lap in his "pope mobile". The Pope looked weak but the round trip brought joy to the crowd, many believed he was on the mend after his long hospital stay. The frail Pope was discharged from Gemelli Hospital in Rome in March, where he had been treated for life-threatening pneumonia with complications.
Over the years, he has repeatedly had problems with his airways. He lacked a part of a lung after a serious infection in the 1950s.
Simpler funeral
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became known as a down-to-earth, progressive, and soccer-loving Pope when he took office in 2013. His commitment to society's vulnerable is reflected in how he wishes to be laid to rest: in a simpler funeral in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
Francis will thus be the first Pope in over a hundred years to be buried outside the Vatican. A conclave to elect a new Pope is expected to be held within two to three weeks.
Catholics see the Pope as the head of the Church and at the same time Jesus' representative on earth.
Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires. His parents were Italian immigrants. Bergoglio studied chemistry and also read literature and psychology.
He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969 and later became Archbishop of Buenos Aires before being elected Pope on March 13, 2013.
He took the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi. The latter was an Italian friar and founder of the Franciscan Order who, among other things, devoted himself to caring for lepers and the poor, as well as reforming the Church. He also received a call to live without possessions and without a fixed abode.
Sources: The Catholic Church and National Encyclopedia
