Hey, it's Brad.

Early this morning, the Vatican announced Pope Francis has died.

It was just a few weeks ago that the 88-year-old Pope was released from Gimeli Hospital in Rome after a five-week stay for a respiratory infection.

He was still in fragile condition.

He had been told to rest for at least two months

after being discharged. But yesterday morning, on Easter Sunday, the biggest day on the Catholic

calendar, he surprised worshippers at the Vatican, appearing on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's

Square to offer his blessing.

His brothers and sorrelle, Bonapascua.

Inside, he actually met with small audiences, including U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance,

who's Catholic himself, hours later, Frances's top lieutenant, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, issued a statement

through the Vatican's official news outlet.

He's saying at 735, he's saying at 7.35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis,

returned to the House of the father.

This now sets off a series of events that will play out in front of the world.

Morning by faithful, across Rome and around the globe, a funeral, and of course, the election of a new Pope that will lead more than a billion Catholics in a fractured moment.

But what I'd like to do before we get to any of that is talk about the significance of this Pope in particular.

So here, this morning, in a special edition of Start Here, I'd like to bring in ABC Senior National correspondent Terry Moran, who covered the Vatican for years as our chief foreign correspondent. Terry, this was not a shocking death necessarily, but it does feel like

a shock to the system for this Catholic church. Yeah, there's no question about that. Pope Francis,

for better, for ill, depending on your point of view, he dominated this church.

He really took this church in a direction forcefully and something that was different.

Before creating the world, God loved.

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