Pope Francis thanked nurse for surprise popemobile tour before his death

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Among Pope Francis' last words was a convey you to his nurse, who had helped the pope astonishment crowds successful St. Peter's Square connected Easter Sunday with a abbreviated circuit successful his popemobile for the archetypal clip since surviving a five-week bout of treble pneumonia.

"Thanks for bringing maine to the square," Francis told Massimiliano Strappetti, who was providing 24-hour attraction for the pontiff, the Vatican's authoritative quality outlet reported connected Tuesday.

The pope, aged 88, died connected Monday aft suffering a changeable and cardiac arrest.

The pontiff had spent 38 days successful infirmary earlier this twelvemonth warring pneumonia, but helium returned to the Vatican astir a period agone and had seemed to beryllium recovering.

Francis, known to propulsion himself to exhaustion, spent his last time working, defying the proposal of doctors who had told him to instrumentality 2 months remainder to let his ageing assemblage to heal.

About 35,000 Catholic faithful lined the aisles wrong St. Peter's Square connected Sunday arsenic the pope made his tour, seated successful a raised seat successful the backmost of the popemobile.

There were shouts of "viva il papa" (long unrecorded the pope) and the conveyance stopped occasionally truthful Francis could bless babies brought guardant by papal aides.

The remainder of the pope's last Sunday was spent normally, the Vatican's outlet reported. He had a "peaceful dinner," it said. The archetypal signs of a "sudden illness" occurred astatine 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) connected Monday.

"A small much than an hr later, making a farewell motion with his manus to Strappetti ... the pontiff went into a coma," said the outlet. "He did not suffer, and it each happened precise fast."

The Vatican outlet said Francis died "having again embraced the people, aft a agelong time".

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Janet Lawrence)