Pope Francis' final days and the doctors' advice he refused to listen to

Laura Gozzi - B BC News

At noon on Monday, church bells across Italy began to ring.

Pope Francis had died.

It had been less than 24 hours since he made a surprise appearance on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, blessing 35,000 people gathered to celebrate Easter at the Vatican. The pope was breathing on his own, without oxygen tubes, despite doctors telling him he would spend two months recovering after 38 days in the hospital with double pneumonia.

For the past two weeks, Francis had been doing what he always did, welcoming visitors and meeting people from all walks of life. When he appeared on Easter Sunday, the crowd below erupted in cheers as he appeared. Then it fell silent.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I wish you a Happy Easter,” he said, his voice heavy with effort. Those would be his last words in public.

"I think people could feel something. As if they could tell it was the last time they would see him," said Mauro, a Rome resident who was in St. Peter's Square for Easter Mass and had now returned to pay his respects.

"Usually everyone shouts 'Long live the Pope!'... this time it was much quieter than usual, perhaps more respectful of his suffering." "He blessed us, but his voice was slow," a man named Alberto told the BBC. "I think he was saying his last goodbye."

Doctors treating Francis at Rome's Gemelli hospital had recommended a complete rest regime, but it was never likely that a typically active Pope, who spent most of his papacy meeting with people, would adhere to it.

Francis had already made it clear that he wanted to return to the Vatican for Easter, even though the specialists treating him explained that his health problems would not be resolved quickly. For Christians, Easter is even more important than Christmas as it symbolizes a fundamental tenet of their faith, the rebirth of Christ, 3 days after his crucifixion.

Before leaving the hospital on March 23, Francis waved to the crowd waiting outside the hospital and then returned to his room at the Casa Santa Marta, a guest house he had made his home. His medical team said all he needed was oxygen and that recovery there was better than in the hospital with all his infections. Easter was just three weeks away, and as it approached, the Pope’s schedule became busier.

He met King Charles and Queen Camilla at Casa San Marta and then appeared on the Vatican balcony for Palm Sunday four days later, on April 13, mingling with a crowd of 20,000 in St. Peter's Square, against the advice of doctors. But for the Pope, Easter was the most important time of all.

Last Thursday, as he had done many times before and as he did in his native Argentina before becoming Pope, he paid a visit to the Regina Coeli prison in Rome, where he spent half an hour meeting prisoners and was greeted with applause from staff and guards as he arrived in a wheelchair.

In previous years he had washed the feet of prisoners, mirroring what Jesus is said to have done with his disciples the night before his death.

“This year I can’t do it, but I can and I still want to be with you,” he said in a weak voice to the dozens of inmates who had come to see him and who cheered him on as he made his way around the prison. “We are very lucky. Those outside don’t get to see him and we do,” one man told Italian media. As he was leaving prison, Francis was asked by a reporter how he would spend Easter this year. “However I can,” he replied.

And on Sunday he kept his promise. He held a brief meeting with US Vice President JD Vance before appearing before the crowds in St. Peter's Square as the crowd below erupted in cheers. He delivered his final blessing, the Urbi et Orbi address, Latin for "to the city and the world." Then Archbishop Diego Ravelli read a speech written by the pope, as Francis sat quietly next to him.

Then, to everyone's surprise, he descended to St. Peter's Square, where he was escorted in an open automobile, the small white Mercedes-Benz used by popes to meet the crowds.

A photographer followed him around as he raised his arm to bless the faithful lining the sunny square, and several babies moved closer. It was the last time the world saw him alive.

Watching Francis' blessing on Sunday, Alberto from Rome thought it wouldn't last much longer, although the Pope's death was still a shock. "I didn't feel happy watching him, I could tell he was in pain. But it was an honor to see him for the last time."

Francis died early Monday at his beloved Casa Santa Marta — a simple 100-room residence run by nuns and open to pilgrims and visitors. A little more than two hours later, the cardinal chamberlain, or Camerlengo, arrived at Casa Santa Marta and announced the news. The Vatican said Monday evening that he had died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure.