Just a day earlier, Pope Francis had thrilled the faithful by showing up on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after two brushes with death and blessing the crowd of worshipers below on Easter Sunday. “Viva il Papa,” they cheered.

But on Monday, standing somberly behind a microphone at the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced that the pope had died. “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” he said.

For the faithful who began streaming into St. Peter’s Square in tears, Francis’ death at 88 was shocking, coming at the end of a brief period in which he had seemed determined to return to his pastoral duties. He had used his final days to emphasize the themes that defined his papacy, particularly the need to defend migrants and others on the margins of society.

“We feel a little lost, a little destabilized,” said Ilaria Toselli, 32, who was among the mourners in St. Peter’s Square on Monday. “He was the pope of the last ones, of the poor, and he was loved by the faithful and the nonfaithful.”

Many of the people in the square held rosaries. Some stared at the empty balcony from which Francis had blessed the crowd on Easter Sunday. One was wrapped in the flag of Argentina, the pope’s homeland.