Pope Francis thanked nurse for surprise popemobile tour before his death

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Among Pope Francis' final words was a thank you to his nurse, who had helped the pope surprise crowds in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday with a short tour in his popemobile for the first time since surviving a five-week bout of double pneumonia.

"Thanks for bringing me to the square," Francis told Massimiliano Strappetti, who was providing 24-hour care for the pontiff, the Vatican's official news outlet reported on Tuesday.

The pope, aged 88, died on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest.

The pontiff had spent 38 days in hospital earlier this year fighting pneumonia, but he returned to the Vatican almost a month ago and had seemed to be recovering.

Francis, known to push himself to exhaustion, spent his final day working, defying the advice of doctors who had told him to take two months rest to allow his ageing body to heal.

About 35,000 Catholic faithful lined the aisles inside St. Peter's Square on Sunday as the pope made his tour, seated in a raised chair in the back of the popemobile.

There were shouts of "viva il papa" (long live the pope) and the vehicle stopped occasionally so Francis could bless babies brought forward by papal aides.

The rest of the pope's final Sunday was spent normally, the Vatican's outlet reported. He had a "peaceful dinner," it said. The first signs of a "sudden illness" occurred at 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Monday.

"A little more than an hour later, making a farewell gesture with his hand to Strappetti ... the pontiff went into a coma," said the outlet. "He did not suffer, and it all happened very fast."

The Vatican outlet said Francis died "having again embraced the people, after a long time".

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Janet Lawrence)