Pope Francis died quickly on Monday morning from an unexpected stroke without suffering undue pain, and there was nothing that doctors could have done to save his life, the head of the pontiff's medical team said in interviews published on Thursday.

Although Pope Francis simplified the papal funeral rites in a move of typical modesty, Saturday’s ceremony will still be full of pomp and pageantry, as the world’s Catholics bid him farewell and cardinals in the Vatican ready themselves for the millennia-old process of picking a new pontiff.