フランシスコ教皇きょうこう死去しきょ ローマ教皇きょうこう庁ちょう 2019年ねん訪日ほうにち 核かく廃絶はいぜつ訴うったえ

The Vatican announced on the 21st that Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church has passed away.

He was 88 years old.

The Pope addressed issues such as poverty and climate change, called for peaceful resolutions to ongoing conflicts in various regions, and visited the atomic bombed sites in Japan to advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Pope Francis is from Argentina and was the first person from Latin America to be elected as Pope in 2013.

During his tenure, he actively advocated for bridging the widening global gap between rich and poor, worked on alleviating the plight of the impoverished, and called for the protection of refugees and migrants and addressing climate change, thus proactively communicating towards solving global issues.

In 2019, for the first time in 38 years as a Pope, he visited Japan and delivered speeches in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the sites of atomic bombings. In Hiroshima, he stated that the use and possession of nuclear weapons are unethical and strongly appealed for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In addition to repeatedly calling for the need for a peaceful resolution regarding Russias military invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, since the fighting between Israel and the Islamic organization Hamas began in October 2023, there has been a call for an immediate ceasefire and improvement of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Pope Francis has also been known for his simple lifestyle and friendly personality in interacting with believers.

In recent years, there have been concerns about health, with repeated hospitalizations, and from February 14th this year for over a month, they were admitted to a hospital in Rome, the capital of Italy, for treatment and examination of bronchitis.

According to the Vatican, the Pope passed away shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time on the 21st.

He was 88 years old.

The Vatican has not disclosed the cause of death.