Pope Francis dies aged 88 just hours after meeting JD Vance

Pope Francis has died, aged 88, the Vatican has announced.

He led the Catholic Church for 12 years, having been elected in March 2013 following the historic resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis recently left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was admitted on February 14 after having difficulty breathing.

It later emerged he was suffering from a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia, which can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.

He had recovered to the extent where he was able to appear in front of crowds in St Peter’s Square for Easter Sunday, and met US Vice President JD Vance yesterday morning.

Francis was the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pontiff since Pope Gregory III, more than 1,000 years earlier.

His death triggers the start of the solemn process to elect a new pope, beginning with the papal funeral in the coming days and end with a plume of white smoke emanating from the Sistine Chapel.