Three relatives of Pope Francis died in a car crash Tuesday after the pontiff's nephew hit a truck carrying corn while driving along a provincial highway in Argentina.

Emanuel Bergoglio, the son of the pontiff's late brother Alberto Bergoglio, was driving a Chevy Spin with his wife and their two children, ages 2 years old and 8 months, when Bergoglio rammed the back of the truck. The crash happened on a mountain near Cordoba, Argentina shortly after midnight on Tuesday, reports Clarin.

Officials say that the pope's 38-year-old nephew has been hospitalized in serious condition and was placed in an induced coma after suffering from liver trauma and a fractured femur among other injuries, reports NBC News.

His wife, Valeria Carmona, and their children were killed, USA Today reports.

The family was reportedly returning to Buenos Aires following a holiday weekend.

The news came a day after the 77-year-old Argentina native spoke about his own death in public for the first time, suggesting that he only has a few more years to live.

When reporters asked about his popularity on Monday, Francis answered, saying "This will last a short time, two or three years, and then to the house of the Father."

Last month, Pope Francis begged six victims of clerical sexual abuse for forgiveness and promised to hold bishops who hid the sex scandals accountable for their "grave sins."

The pope prayed with the "victims of abuse from Ireland, Germany and Britain" and invited them to attend an "early-morning private Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae," according to NBC News. During the meeting, he called for "reparation" for those who had suffered at the hands of Roman Catholic priests.

He also described the abuse as a "grave sin" that was concealed for "so much time" and "camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained."