The last hours of Pope Francis were serene. As Salvatore Cernuzio for Vatican News reports, there was his “Thanks for bringing me back to the square” expressed to Massimiliano Strappetti, the nurse who had become his shadow in recent years. After, as the Pope himself told, he had saved his life by suggesting the colon operation, in 2022, the pontiff had appointed him his personal health assistant. A role that Strappetti played with dedication and love, also sacrificing part of his personal life. He remained by his side for all 38 the days of hospitalization without returning home for fear of being able to bring some infection and then assisted him 24 hours a day at Casa Santa Marta.
Strappetti, we read on Vatican News, «He was with the Pope on Easter Sunday, during the Urbi et orbi. The day before they had gone to the Basilica of San Pietro to review the “path” to be done the next day when Francesco then appeared from the loggia of blessings. And after that moment, on Sunday morning, on the balcony at the heart of the facade of the Vatican Basilica, when the faithful from the initials 35 thousand had already become 50 thousand, the Pope wanted to make one last, significant, surprised by going to St. Peter’s Square for a sponsor’s ride. Not without some slight initial fear: “Do you think he can do it?” He asked Strappetti who reassured him. From there the embrace to the crowd and in particular to the children: the first lap after resignation from Gemelli, the last of his life ».
Upon returning to Santa Marta, the Pontiff thanked his assistant for encouraging him in his desire to be with people. Then the rest in the afternoon, the dinner and a quiet night up to “at 5.30 in the morning” when there are “the first signs of the illness, with the prompt intervention of those who watched over him. More than an hour later, made a gesture of greeting with his hand in Strappetti, lying on the bed of his apartment on the second floor of the Santa Marta house, the pontiff entered a coma. He did not suffer, everything happened quickly, he says who was next to him in those last moments ».
