Some kings are born in public, as Frederick II 'Stupor Mundi', (born on a cold Boxing Day in 1194 in the main square of Iesi in full view of bishops and nobles, for dynastic reasons) but all popes in recent centuries died in their beds.
Pope Francis tried hard to die out of bed and in public and almost succeeded.
On Easter Sunday he defied odds by going up to the balcony of St Peter's and whispering his blessing. Then, not content, he got on to the Pope-mobile and got them to take him round the square. That was the last time the world saw him alive. His face was already the face of a dead man.
Meanwhile he managed to squeeze in a short exchange of greetings with US Vice President J D Vance, who had sharply replied to his defence of migrants. The Pope also had the forethought to send for three figolli for Vance's three children.
He was reckless with his own health. He contracted pneumonia after celebrating the Jubilee of the Armed Forces in a cold and rainy St Peter's Square. Once out of hospital where he had almost died, he rejected the offer of a helicopter to get home in favour of a car trip in some of Rome's notorious traffic jams including a detour to deliver a bunch of flowers to his beloved Santa Maria Maggiore where he is now buried (outside the Vatican as has been pointed out). And finally the Easter Sunday bravado that was to cost him his life.
As these few days have shown, he has been loved by many including non-Catholics but he was also hated.
The cardinals of the Curia, especially those he kicked out of super-luxury apartments, hated him. The conservatives in the church hated him. I dare say that even the bishops of capital or big cities that he refused a red hat (Paris, Milan, etc) hated him. He was also hated by the Maga extreme fringe that includes far right, conservative Vatican II deniers, and all those who urged forced repatriation of migrants.
And no sooner had he closed his eyes that Cardinal Becciu, previously among Francis's favourites, who Francis had kicked out of the College of Cardinals because of a steamy real estate deal on some prime London real estate, was back declaiming his right to vote in Conclave.
What will history make of him? He was not a big doctrinal teacher. Nor an innovator - towards the end he rowed back from women deacons, previously getting accepted. I see him more as the world's parish priest, saying Mass on practically every Sunday.
Here in our country we tend to remember his two days in 2022, a voyage that had had to be postponed because of Covid.
It was a visit that should not have taken place then, considering that Malta had just had a bruising general election and tempers were still running high.
Worse was still to come: the first speech, at the Palace of the Grandmasters, a meditation on the Rosa dei Venti (when there is so much in Malta's history to offer better points of reflection!) was brutally censored by PBS, at that time under Norma Saliba, whenever he spoke against corruption, etc in governance.
Almost as bad has been Net TV which dedicated a good programme on the pope on Monday, but did not once refer to this crime of government censorship. I heard most of it twice and still could not believe my ears - it's the equivalent of shooting across an open goal.
On Monday night TVM continued with its usual (poor) fare, a quiz involving boxing.
Even a beginner could rustle up a programme recalling the pope's visit to the Peace Lab and meeting migrants and possibly an interview with former president George Vella.
Throughout his pontificate, Francis and Malta never seemed to hit it off and the 'business as usual' did not help.
But you may be sure the people mentioned here, and more, have now crowded onto planes to be present among the world's mighty for the funeral.
Within 24 hours all the media in the world began speculating on the new Pope. Not that Pope Francis has been forgotten by the downtrodden masses. But that's the way it is. "Morto un Papa, se ne fa un altro", the Italians say. They should know; they've been doing it for centuries.
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