Pope Francis collapsed during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Sunday and was transported by ambulance to Rome's Agostino Gemelli University Hospital shortly before 8 a.m. local time. The Vatican Press Office confirmed the hospitalization in a brief statement Sunday afternoon, saying the pontiff was "stable and conscious" but that his condition required "close medical monitoring." No further details were provided about the specific nature of the episode.
Francis turned 89 in December. He has spent more time in hospitals over the past three years than any pope in modern memory. In February 2023, he was hospitalized for bronchitis. He underwent intestinal surgery at Gemelli in 2021. He had one knee so damaged by ligament pain that he conducted much of the 2022-2023 period in a wheelchair. The Gemelli — which Vatican insiders have long nicknamed the "Vatican's third basilica" — has become a familiar backdrop.
But Sunday felt different. Italian state broadcaster RAI reported that several senior cardinals had been summoned to Rome "unexpectedly," though the Vatican did not confirm this. A Papal Mass scheduled for next Sunday at St. Peter's Square has been quietly removed from the official Vatican calendar.
“Italian state broadcaster RAI reported that several senior cardinals had been summoned to Rome "unexpectedly," though the Vatican did not confirm this.”
The Catholic Church has approximately 1.4 billion members worldwide, and the question of succession — however uncomfortable to raise while Francis is alive and conscious — is unavoidable at this point. Under current canon law, only the pope himself can resign, as Benedict XVI did in February 2013. If Francis dies in office, the College of Cardinals must convene a conclave within 15 to 20 days to elect a successor. The last conclave, in 2013, took just two days and five ballots.
Key Takeaways
- →pope francis: Pope Francis collapsed during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City and was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli University Hospital.
- →vatican: Pope Francis collapsed during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City and was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli University Hospital.
- →catholic church: Pope Francis collapsed during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City and was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli University Hospital.
- →gemelli hospital: Pope Francis collapsed during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City and was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli University Hospital.
There are roughly 135 cardinal-electors currently eligible to vote — those under the age of 80. Francis himself has appointed the majority of them, which means the next conclave will largely be voting on his legacy rather than repudiating it. The most frequently mentioned frontrunners include Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's 71-year-old Secretary of State and the de facto second-in-command; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, a progressive voice from Southeast Asia; and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who would be the first African pope since the fifth century.
What's often overlooked in conclave speculation is how systematically Francis has reshaped the electorate. He has appointed cardinals from Myanmar, Tonga, South Sudan, and East Timor — countries that had never before had a cardinal-elector. The next pope will almost certainly not be European, and may very well come from a part of the world that would have been unthinkable to the College of Cardinals even twenty years ago.
Cardinal Parolin is currently managing day-to-day Vatican operations, a role he stepped into with quiet efficiency. The Vatican Secretary of State does not become acting pope — technically there is no acting pope when a papacy is vacant — but Parolin's authority over the Church's diplomatic and administrative apparatus is significant during any interregnum.
Francis's progressive record has been complicated. He has spoken with unusual warmth about LGBTQ+ Catholics, launched sweeping financial reforms at the Vatican Bank that uncovered serious corruption, and produced a series of environmental encyclicals that positioned the Church as a leading voice on climate change. He has also drawn criticism from conservative cardinals — most vocally Cardinal Raymond Burke of the United States and Cardinal Gerhard Müller of Germany — for doctrinal ambiguity on issues including communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.
The irony is that the very reforms Francis championed have also made the Church's internal politics more globally distributed and harder to read. In 2013, when Benedict resigned, the smart money was on an Italian or Latin American pope. Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina — Francis — was a surprise. The next surprise may be even larger.
As of Sunday evening, the Vatican had issued no additional updates. Thousands of faithful had gathered in St. Peter's Square by nightfall, many holding candles. The mood, by all accounts, was one of anxious prayer rather than grief — but the two are not always easy to distinguish.