People from across Connecticut are mourning the loss of Pope Francis, who the Vatican announced has died at the age of 88.

After spending over a month in the hospital because of pneumonia back in February, Francis had been released and seemed to have a pretty active Easter Sunday prior to his death.

"It seemed like maybe he was on the mend and so I was hopeful he might kind of turn the corner," said Father Paul Rourke, Fairfield University's vice president of admission and ministry said.

Francis spent the day meeting with Vice President JD Vance, giving the traditional Easter Blessing from the balcony at Saint Peter's Basilica and even drove through the crowd on the Pope Mobile, which is something he had not done since being hospitalized.

But just after 7:30 a.m. local time on the day after Easter, the Vatican says the pope died.

"This timing on Easter Monday gives us a lot of consolation that he shares now in that resurrection that we celebrated on Easter Sunday," said Father Sudhir DSouza, the pastor at St. Philip Church in Norwalk.

Francis leaves behind a legacy of living a simple life, charity and humility, which Rourke laughed "sets the bar high."

It is a legacy Rourke and DSouza say was felt in every part of the church.

"He knew the power of simple gestures and simple phrases," Rourke explained.

"We became a more compassionate church. A lot of people had gone away from the church, and with Pope Francis, many people came back," said DSouza.

His influence was also felt by members of the younger generation, like Stamford's Marygrace Logsdail - who's currently going to college in Spain and actually got to see Francis twice in the final week of his life during a trip to the Vatican.

"Everybody was kind of overjoyed, because nobody expected him to come out," said Longsdail over Zoom, telling News 12 she saw him both on Palm Sunday and again on Saturday.

"He would go, and then he would stop whenever there was like a newborn or a child, and he would stop and pray over them, and I just thought that was really beautiful," she said. "I definitely feel fortunate enough to know that I was there and that I saw him, and that it's going be in one of my memories for my life."