The Vatican has released the first photos that show Pope Francis lying in state after the head of the Catholic church died on Easter Monday.

Navarrosa, who is currently writing his thesis on the pope’s 2016 encyclical 'Amoris Laetitia,' recalls meeting Francis in 2021 and says he had hoped to meet him again. “I’m not worried about the future of the church, because it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he says.

The Vatican has released photos of Pope Francis in an open coffin, dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hands.

Francis never gave an explicit answer for not returning as pontiff to his native country, but some experts say he worried about having his presence used for political purposes.

Guillermo Marco, spokesman for the pope when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, told Reuters it had been a "wasted opportunity" for Argentina. Francis, he said, had

Pope Francis, the second-oldest pope in modern history, has passed away at the age of 88, leaving behind a legacy of change in the Catholic Church.