The Vatican has released Pope Francis’s death certificate after the Catholic leader passed away suddenly on Easter Monday.

It revealed the 88-year-old pontiff — who had been recovering from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia — died of a sudden stroke and irreversible cardiac arrest.

The Vatican added that the Pope had fallen into a coma before he died.

Besides his recent lung infection, the Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said Francis had also suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes.

The Pope’s shock passing came just hours after he made a brief final appearance on Easter Sunday to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile.

“Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!” Francis said, his voice sounding stronger than it had since his hospitalisation.

“Viva il Papa!” (Long live the pope), the crowd responded.

The Vatican also released Francis’s final testament, in which he requested a simple burial “without particular decoration” and bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.

He wished to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major (most pontiffs have been buried at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican).

“As I sense the approaching twilight of my earthly life, and with firm hope in eternal life, I wish to set out my final wishes solely regarding the place of my burial,” he stated in his testament.

“Throughout my life, and during my ministry as a priest and bishop, I have always entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“For this reason, I ask that my mortal remains rest — awaiting the day of the Resurrection — in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

“I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey, confidently entrusting my intentions to the Immaculate Mother, and giving thanks for her gentle and maternal care.”

A Vatican spokesman said the Pope’s coffin might be moved to St Peter’s Basilica as early as Wednesday morning to allow the faithful to pay their respects.

No date has yet been given for the funeral, but the Vatican said it would normally be expected to take place sometime between Friday and Sunday. A group of cardinals are due to meet on Tuesday and could set the timetable for the funeral then.

Tributes for Francis have poured in from around the world, with many leaders praising his humility. His native Argentina ordered seven days of mourning, as did neighbouring Brazil.

World leaders praised his efforts to reform the worldwide Church and offered condolences to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

“He was a good man, worked hard. He loved the world,” said US President Donald Trump, whom the Pope had criticised in the past, especially for his hardline on immigration.

The outspoken president of Argentina, Javier Milei, had clashed with the pope in the past, branding him at one point the devil’s representative on earth. But he changed his tune after taking office in 2023 and mourned his death on Monday.

“Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honour for me,” Milei said on X.

More than five million Australian Catholics are in mourning as his death is marked by tolling church bells and preparations for scores of memorial masses around the world.

There are 5.1 million people in Australia who identify as Catholic, according to the 2021 Census, equating to about 20 per cent of the total population.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a devout Catholic, recalled that the first Pope from the southern hemisphere had compassion that embraced all of humanity.

Australian Cardinal Mykola Bychok said he was filled with sadness for the loss of a “pope of peace” and a man of simple piety.

“This sadness is our human reaction to the death of a much-loved father,” the Ukrainian-born Melbourne cardinal said.

“I am grateful for the late Holy Father’s frequent appeals for a just peace in Ukraine and for the efforts of the Holy See that he oversaw — known and secret — that in some way helped bring relief to the imprisoned and suffering.”

Bychok was on his way to the Middle East on a pilgrimage but will divert to Rome as soon as practicable.

He will take part in the funeral rites before joining other cardinal electors to choose the 367th and next Pope.

Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher — who was controversially overlooked as cardinal — praised the pontiff’s condemnation of what he described as ‘the globalisation of indifference’ when it came to refugees and the poor and ‘the throwaway culture’ towards the unborn and elderly.

“Pope Francis passionately decried views and actions contrary to human dignity and flourishing,” he said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton noted the late Pope lived frugally, simply and was driven by “Christ’s values of mercy and forgiveness”.

While not without controversy, his papacy was marked by an emphasis on the mercy and compassion of God, and on the Church’s vocation to be a sign and bearer of that merciful love in an increasingly troubled world, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said.

The change in leadership could also offer a chance for Australia to “reset” its relationship with the Vatican, Deakin and Oxford universities’ Catholic Church historian Miles Pattenden said.

“It was an extraordinary snub that Francis made Mykola Bychok, the Ukrainian Australian Bishop, cardinal and not the Archbishop of Sydney (Fisher),” Pattenden told AAP.

“There’s no way to read that, except as a rebuke to Sydney. It may be that a new Pope allows for a re-test of that, even if he’s still a liberal.”

Parishes around the country are expected to hold special memorial masses for the late Pope in coming days.

National flags on federal government buildings will fly at half-mast on Tuesday as a mark of respect.

King and Queen express deep sadness

The King and Queen expressed their “most heartfelt condolences and profound sympathy” following the death of Pope Francis.

Charles and Camilla had a moving meeting with the ailing 88-year-old while he was convalescing just 12 days ago.

The couple’s historic state visit to the Vatican in early April was cancelled because of the Pope’s poor health, but they managed to visit the head of the Roman Catholic Church privately during their trip to Italy.

The King, in an official message released following the news of the pontiff’s death on Monday, said he and Camilla were “most deeply saddened”.

The Union flag will be flown half-mast at royal residences where Charles is not in residence as a mark of respect and sombre music will be played at the Changing of the Guard ceremonies.

A member of the royal family is expected to attend the Pope’s funeral, if the Vatican is in agreement, but it is too early to say who will travel to pay their respects.

The King said: “My wife and I were most deeply saddened to learn of the death of Pope Francis.

“Our heavy hearts have been somewhat eased, however, to know that His Holiness was able to share an Easter greeting with the Church and the world he served with such devotion throughout his life and ministry.

“His Holiness will be remembered for his compassion, his concern for the unity of the Church and for his tireless commitment to the common causes of all people of faith, and to those of goodwill who work for the benefit of others.

“Through his work and care for both people and planet, he profoundly touched the lives of so many.”

Charles and Camilla met with the Pope in early April. Photo: AAP (Vatican)

Charles and Camilla’s meeting with the Pope in what would be his final weeks was arranged at the last minute and took place on their 20th wedding anniversary on April 9, with the pontiff wanting to personally wish them a happy anniversary.

A senior palace official would later say the royal couple found the meeting “very significant and special”.

Twenty years ago, Charles and Camilla’s marriage ceremony was postponed with just four days because it clashed with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The King met Pope Francis twice as the Prince of Wales, but the visit in April was his first as monarch and head of the Church of England.

The pair are said to have had huge respect for one another.

When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, the Pope sent his “heartfelt condolences” to Charles, the new sovereign, in a telegram.

He said he joined all in mourning her loss and paid tribute to “her life of unstinting service to the good of the nation and the Commonwealth, her example of devotion to duty, her steadfast witness of faith”.

-with AAP