Vatican News has just released statement saying that Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.

The 88-year-old pope, limiting his workload on doctors’ orders, did not preside over the Vatican’s Mass for Easter but appeared at the end of the event for a twice-yearly blessing and message known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world).

Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.

The pope had suffered various ailments in his 12-year papacy.

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