Top photo caption: Pope Francis is brought on stage in St. Peter’s Square by his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, at the end of the closing Mass for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers at the Vatican April 6, 2025. As the Catholic Church commemorated the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death April 21, 2026, Strappetti, who attended the pontiff until the end, remembered the man he regarded as “a second father.” CNS photo/Pablo Esparza
OSV News – As the Catholic Church commemorates the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death in Rome and beyond, his personal nurse, who attended him until the end, remembered the man he regarded as “a second father.”
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, published April 20, Massimiliano Strappetti said that of all the personal keepsakes and photos he has of the late pontiff, the one he opens most often is the bottle of cologne Pope Francis used daily.
Upon opening it and smelling it, “in an instant, everything that was comes back to me,” he told the newspaper.
Strappetti was a constant presence, especially during the Pope’s hospitalization, and was often seen pushing the pontiff’s wheelchair.
“For me, he was like a second father, and I still miss him very much,” he said.
Recalling Pope Francis’ jovial nature, the nurse said that although the Pope “didn’t like hospital stays,” he would jokingly say when he went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital, “You’ll see, now the cardinals will start preparing for the conclave.”
However, when his condition took a turn for the worse last year, the Pope’s tone turned somber when Strappetti told him they had to go to the hospital.
“This is the last time I will see Santa Marta, isn’t it?” the Pope told him, referring to his residence.
“That’s when I made him a promise: ‘I will bring you back here dressed as Pope.’ And that’s what happened,” the nurse said.
Two days after Pope Francis’ death, Vatican News reported on the Pope’s last day.
On April 20, the Pope and his nurse went to St. Peter’s Basilica to review the route he would take the following day to the central balcony.
Strappetti said the Pope expressed concern about whether he would “manage to get onto” the Popemobile. However, he noted, Pope Francis shared “the concerns of a normal person – someone whose right knee hurt so much he couldn’t put on his shoes, yet wasn’t ashamed to ask for help.”
Pope Francis told Strappetti of his hope to surprise the faithful by greeting them in his Popemobile. However, he asked his nurse, “Do you think I can do it?” After Strappetti reassured him, the Pope was just as happy to be close to the people as they were to see him. Although the Popemobile ride weakened him, he expressed gratitude to his nurse.
“Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” he told him.
Asked about that day, Strappetti told Corriere della Sera there was another detail he had kept to himself that he wanted to reveal.
“That day, after the ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing and the joyful ride among his people, when we returned to Santa Marta, he was exhausted but happy like a child who had just been given a jar of chocolate. In the elevator, just the two of us, a tear rolled down his face,” Strappetti said.
At 5:30 a.m. the following day, the Pope suffered a stroke. After making a farewell gesture with his hand to Strappetti, Pope Francis slipped into a coma and died April 21, 2025.
As thousands lined up to view the body of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, Strappetti remained a constant presence near the coffin until it was closed.
Asked by the newspaper why he stayed there the entire time, the nurse said it was “because I had cared for the Holy Father’s body with love until the very end.”
“I felt the need to look after him even in that moment, ready to intervene for any necessity due to the long exposure of the body to the faithful. It was the right thing to do,” he said.
Reflecting on their friendship, especially in the Pope’s final moments of illness and death, Strappetti said the Pope felt close to him “perhaps because I saw him as a person before seeing him as a Pope.”
Recalling a conversation, Strappetti said the Pope told him, “Do you know why I trust you? I asked around and was told that you do good to everyone and haven’t let it go to your head.”
He also noted that the two were “very united by humor,” which was an important aspect of their friendship.
“Every morning, when he woke up, he would ask me: ‘Hi, who died today?’ That’s just how he was,” he said.
The nurse told Corriere della Sera that he had confided to the Pope that he was divorced.
“‘And what’s the problem?’ he said. Then he asked, ‘But do they let you receive Communion?’ and added, ‘Because if not, tell me the names of those priests who refuse and I’ll go talk to them myself,'” Strappetti recalled.
“He was a surprising, courageous and cheerful Pope. That’s why I miss him, and I often go visit him at Santa Maria Maggiore,” he said, adding that when he visits, he lays a white rose on the tomb and “makes one of our jokes.”
“Perhaps he’ll laugh,” he said.
Recalling calls for sainthood after St. John Paul II’s death, the nurse was asked whether the late Pope would follow the same path. Strappetti noted that Pope Francis “always said, ‘Miracles are performed only by Jesus.'”
However, “I won’t hide that there are cases that will need to be examined by the Church as well as by science. I am referring to people with serious illnesses who have recovered. We’ll see. But for me, Francis is already a saint,” he said.
Numerous cardinals were to attend a 6 p.m. memorial Mass April 21 marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death; Pope Leo XIV is still en route on his longest apostolic trip of this pontificate so far.
At 5 p.m. at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the late pontiff is buried, recitation of the rosary at his tomb began.
Also, a Latin commemorative plaque being unveiled in the chapel housing the “Salus Populi Romani” icon, which he venerated 126 times, according to the inscription.
“Francis, Supreme Pontiff, who 126 times devoutly stood at the feet of the Mother of the Salvation of the Roman People, by his own will rests in this Papal Basilica. April 21, 2026, first anniversary of his death,” the plaque says.
Separately, Vatican media will release a documentary of just under 30 minutes featuring archival footage of Pope Francis’ papacy, which emphasized mercy and outreach beyond the Church. The Vatican postal service will also issue a special postmark bearing his stylized portrait.
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
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