The Vatican said the Catholic leader, who suffered from chronic lung disease and recently spent 38 days in the hospital for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia, died of a stroke that put him into a coma and led to heart failure.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died of stroke and heart failure, the Vatican said on Monday.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He died at the age of 88.