Instead, it was for his longtime nurse and personal healthcare assistant, Massimiliano Strappetti — the man who had stood by him during some of his most fragile moments and when he suffered from double pneumonia.

“Thank you for bringing me back to the Square,” Pope Francis said softly, just hours after riding through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile one final time, according to Vatican News. since surviving a five-week bout of double pneumonia.

Pope Francis’s last words to his carer

That final ride wasn’t even planned. After delivering his traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday, the Pope hesitated. He turned to Mr. Strappetti and asked, “Do you think I can manage it?” The ride, it turns out, was not just symbolic — it was a farewell.

Among thousands of faithful, the Pope smiled, waved, and embraced children — his last gesture of connection to