What confuses me is that he didn’t seem sick enough to be bedridden. On the contrary, during yesterday’s events, he appeared to be in fairly good shape – in the videos, he didn’t look gravely ill and performed his tasks normally. That’s why his sudden passing today feels so puzzling.
Does anyone know what might have happened? Could his immune system have just given out from all the exertion? It still feels a bit hard to wrap my head around.
EDIT: I’m aware he had been dealing with health issues for a long time. It’s just puzzling to me that he didn’t appear gravely ill or bedridden before his passing.
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everyone in the history of the planet who has died was alive the previous day
The pope hasn’t been healthy. It’s fairly well documented.
A lot of very old or sick people have a sudden “last good day” where they seem energetic and sharp right before passing. It’s weirdly common. Could’ve been adrenaline, a rally moment, or just luck that let him move around like that. Then his body couldn’t keep going.
My great grandfather played soccer, ate a steak for lunch, and went out to take a nap in the sun by the pool. He died in his sleep.
Things happen.
It’s definitely possible, especially if he had something like an aneurism or heart attack
What’s most important to remember, though, is that people can be really good at pretending they’re not sick. Those of us who are chronically ill are really good at masking it, and if the pope was sick for a long time there’s a good chance he just got used to putting up good appearances for his people
ETA: I am now aware it was a stroke, this comment was posted before the cause of death was released
You can die suddenly at any point, and it’s not like he’s been in the best of health the last few months. My aunt died with a cigarette still in her hand, they think it was a massive stroke.
The guy was very old and had just been hospitalised for pneumonia. It’s possible that the strain was just too much and something in his body just gave out.
A similar thing happened to my wife’s grandmother. She had emphysema but was pretty active, then one day just had a heart attack and died. Old folks can be pretty fragile.
He met JD Vance and died of cringe.
Sometimes people seem to have a burst of energy right before they pass it’s called a “rally.” It can be really confusing because they seem better for a moment, but it’s often just the body’s last push before things shut down. Sad but not uncommon.
Look into the “death rally” terminology. It is something that can happen with very sick individuals where they get an unexpected and unexplained burst of life before dying. This was an old man that was very recently incredibly ill, it shouldn’t surprise anyone he passed.
He was 88 and has been battling pneumonia for a while now. A lot of times, people who are terminally ill or dying will get a sudden burst of energy just before they pass. It was probably just the pneumonia and old age.
He was sick. Got better. Regressed. He was 88 years old. Do you know what 88 year olds do? Die.
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Here’s a thread full of accounts people who were one sneeze away from death, but seemed totally fine even as they walked themselves into the ER with a blood oxygen level of like 40%:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1k1vstt/medical_workers_of_reddit_whats_the_craziest_lab/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Warning, don’t read it if you tend towards hypochondria, it’s an incredibly stressful thread haha
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Nurse here. I have seen so many deaths. Obviously mine are a little bit biased because these people were ill and in the hospital. But not all of them were expected to happen.
But I have seen my fair share of patients who we’re seemingly waiting to meet with somebody one last time, to watch an event like their child’s graduation or wedding. It’s as if they were holding out to make it through that one last moment in life and then they were able to die peacefully.
The Pope made it through Easter, he did what he had/wanted to do. Then something within our bodies and mind and soul can let go of the current life here on this planet. It is satisfied.
“One last good day” is a real phenomenon. People and even animals will rally one last time and have a burst of energy before they pass.
My great grandfather was living in an assisted living facility. Each morning his nurse would ask what he planned to do that day. Each day he had a fun answer. One particular day she asked and while he was answering she went into the bathroom to grab something for him. He told her, “today I think is a good day to die”. She kept talking to him from the bathroom for another minute and came back to his bedside. He was already gone in that minute or so.
Sometimes you just go.
Believe it or not, sometimes 88 yr olds just drop dead. It happens.
As someone who was at the Vatican City and saw him on Easter Sunday, he was very obviously not well.
He only said a couple sentences of his sermon before someone else took over. For your popemobile comment, even the security didn’t know until moments before he got into his vehicle if he would come down to bless the people. Even as he greeted the people he did he was not his usual lively self and was sort of “holding” on and only did a few blessings. He sat down the whole time and barely moved or spoke.
It was clear to all of us in the crowd he was not well, but wanted to be there for the people and finish the Easter Sunday sermon
As someone who worked oncology for many years and was present at the end of life for many patients, sometimes people have a really, really “good day” right before death. He had a chronic condition and was recently hospitalized for pneumonia.