The death of the pope comes a day after he made what would be his final public appearance on Easter Sunday when he greeted thousands of faithful outside of the Vatican. Pope Francis, who became a beloved leader of the Catholic church for his embrace of marginalized people,

Pope Francis died of a stroke and subsequent irreversible heart failure, the Vatican says in a statement. We'll bring you more on this shortly. There are quite a lot of people here now - at least several hundred, with more flocking in from the rest of the city.

Pope Francis has died​ at the age of 88 following a number of health issues in recent years. Here's what we know about his cause of death.