An Irishwoman in Rome: Italy mourns a man who spent his papacy consorting with the poor, prisoners, and sinners

Pope Francis: His surprise trip among the crowds in the Pope Mobile, though in his last agony, was his addio to the people he loved, the people he was part of, as a brother, a father, a friend. Picture: AP /Gregorio Borgia

The Pope is dead.

The news was given Urbi et Orbi — to the City and the World — by his Camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, reading the official Vatican statement in a soft voice with a strong Irish accent.