Pope Francis died quickly and without suffering, his doctor says

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis died quickly on Monday morning from an unexpected stroke without suffering undue pain, and there was nothing that doctors could have done to save his life, the head of the pontiff's medical team said in interviews published on Thursday.

Sergio Alfieri, a physician at Rome's Gemelli hospital, oversaw the pope's treatment there during a five-week stay when Francis was fighting double pneumonia earlier this year.

Alfieri said he got a phone call at around 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Monday morning to come quickly to the Vatican and arrived about 20 minutes later.

"I entered his rooms and he (Francis) had his eyes open," the doctor told Corriere della Sera newspaper. "I ascertained that there were no respiratory problems. And then I tried to call his name, but he did not respond to me."

"In that moment I knew there was nothing more to do," said Alfieri. "He was in a coma."

In a separate interview with La Repubblica, Alfieri said some officials who were present with the pope suggested moving him immediately back to the hospital.

"He would have died on the way," said the doctor. "Doing a CT scan we would have had a more exact diagnosis, but nothing more. It was one of those strokes that, in an hour, carries you away."

Francis was 88 and had nearly died while fighting pneumonia, but his death came as a shock. Just the previous day he appeared in St. Peter's Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday, suggesting his convalescence was going well.

POPE KEPT WORKING

After Francis returned to the Vatican on March 23 after a 38-day hospital stay, Alfieri and the pope's other doctors had prescribed him a two month period of rest to allow his ageing body to heal.

Francis, known to push himself hard, kept working. He met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Easter Sunday, and had visited a prison in Rome on April 17, Holy Thursday, to offer well wishes to the inmates.

Alfieri said the pope listened to his doctors' advice and didn't push himself too hard. "He (was) the pope," the doctor told Corriere. "Going back to work was part of his treatment and he was never exposed to danger."

The doctor said he last saw Francis on Saturday afternoon. "He was very well," said Alfieri, who said he gifted the pope some pie, in a flavour he knew the pontiff liked.

He recounted the pope saying, "I am very well, I have started working again, and I like it."

"We knew that he wanted to go home to be pope up until the last moment," said the doctor. "He didn't let us down."

In the Repubblica interview, Alfieri said Francis had shared one final regret with him. While he was happy to have visited the prisoners on April 17, he wished he had been able to perform a foot-washing ritual for the Church's celebration of Holy Thursday.

"He regretted he could not wash the feet of the prisoners," said the doctor. "'This time I couldn't do it' was the last thing he said to me."

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Frances Kerry)