Francis' last day: the Popemobile ride, the blessing, the meeting with Vance

The last lap of the Piazza. Unannounced, a big surprise for the 50,000 people who flocked for Easter. Francis spoke from the Loggia of St. Peter's, a few words, between greetings to the faithful and the Urbi et Orbi blessing. Words choked with suffering, a hiss that said everything about his state and the recovery that had never really taken place. Long minutes in the popemobile, with even caresses to the children who approached him, his hand waving and blessing, ever so laboriously.

The last day of Francis' life was particularly intense, perhaps more so than any since he was discharged from the Gemelli polyclinic on 23 March, after more than a month of hospitalisation in which he had twice been on the brink of death. First the meeting - not on the agenda - with Vice-President JD Vance, with cordiality photos and Easter eggs, then the transfer to the Loggia, the long tour in the Popemobile and finally the brief meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his family.

The last speech, read by the master of ceremonies, at the end is a spiritual testament that will remain more than any other: the condemnation of wars, rearmament, oppression, and in favour of peace, of welcoming migrants. But the visit to the Regina Coeli prisoners on Holy Thursday, the only exit from the confines of the Vatican state made after the long hospitalisation, will also remain. But also the meeting with the doctors and paramedics of the Gemelli Hospital, who assisted him from 14 February to 23 March.