Pope Francis cause of death: Stroke, irreversible heart failure
Pope Francis died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure. It was announced by Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli in a death certificate.
Following the news of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, President Donald Trump addressed the annual White House Easter Egg Roll honoring the late pontiff.
“He was a good man, worked hard, he loved the world,” Trump said at the start of the 147th iteration of the White House egg roll tradition.
Trump’s remarks were made at the White House’s South Portico alongside first lady Melania Trump and a costumed Easter bunny.
“Easter is special, and it’s one of our favorite days. It’s one of our favorite periods of time. We’re honoring Jesus Christ,” Trump said. “We’re bringing religion back in America. We’re bringing a lot of things back, but religion is coming back to America. That’s why you see the kind of numbers that you see.”
Trump said he ordered the U.S. and state flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Pope Francis until sunset on Monday, according to a presidential proclamation.
Trump and Pope Francis: A tense relationship
While Pope Francis was still alive, his relationship with Trump was contentious. When the then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected in 2013 to be the next pope, Trump questioned the frugality that the future pope was showing.
“I don’t like seeing the Pope standing at the checkout counter (front desk) of a hotel in order to pay his bill,” Trump tweeted. “It’s not Pope-like!”
Years later, as Trump became a leading figure in the Republican party, Pope Francis suggested that Trump was “not a Christian” amid the Republicans’ calls for deporting immigrants and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he told journalists. “This is not the gospel.”
Trump said the pope didn’t understand the United States’ problems with the Mexico border.
When Trump again won the White House in 2024, Pope Francis warned that the administration’s cruel immigration policies “will end badly.”
“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he said in an open letter back in February.
Trump and Pope Francis met in 2017
Trump met with Francis four months after he became president in 2017 and as part of his first trip as leader of the U.S.
In photos taken before their meeting on May 24, 2017, Trump smiled broadly and later tweeted: “Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.”
During the meeting, Francis gave Trump a signed-and-bound copy of his remarks from World Peace Day and a set of English-language translations of his papal writings, including his 2015 encyclical on climate change. “I’ll be reading them,” Trump said.
In a statement at the time, the Vatican expressed hope that the encounter would be the start of a “serene collaboration” with the Trump administration.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.