Pope Francis died Monday morning, and the funeral will take place today, Saturday in Rome. At his funeral, officials from around the world are expected to attend, as well as hundreds of thousands of faithful. What will change in relation to the funeral of his predecessors and what can he follow for the Catholic Church?
When and where will Pope Francis’ funeral take place?
It will take place at St. Peter’s Square at 11am (Greek time). The outdoor ceremony, led by Cardinal Giovanni Batista, Rector of the Cardinal College, is expected to attend officials from 170 foreign delegations, as well as tens of thousands of ordinary people who want to pay tribute to Pa.
About 50,000 people attended the funeral of his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict, who was also held at St. Peter’s Square in January 2023.
In the face of Francis’ funeral, hundreds of thousands of people tail to bid farewell to the Pope, as his body was in an open wooden coffin in St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning. By Friday morning,
Which foreign leaders and kings will attend?
Donald Trump – the US president whose immigration policies and mass deportations were criticized by the deceased Pope – will be in Rome for the funeral, accompanied by his wife, Melania.
Others expected to attend are UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, Volontimir Zelenski, President of Ukraine, President of Ukraine, And Queen Letiithia of Spain, Michael D. Higgins and Michol Martin, representing the United Kingdom, Kir Starmer, Prime Minister, and Prince William. Andrzey Dunda, the president of Poland, will be there, as are Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza and its Prime Minister, Luis Modtenegro.
Among those present from Latin America are Brazilian president, Luis Inasio Lula da Silva, and Javier Miley – the president of Francis’s birthplace, Argentina, who had previously referred to the deceased “Pontius”. Mexico’s president, Claudia Seinbaum, will not attend, but will be represented by the country’s interior minister, Rosa Ikla Rodriguez.
Ferdinand Markos Junior, the President of the Philippines – who has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world – will also be in Rome.
Russia will be represented by its Minister of Culture, Olga Lyubimova. The country’s president, Vladimir Putin, has not traveled to a western country since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago and is subject to an arrest of an international criminal court for the alleged forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
Among the leaders of the opposition parties to participate are Alberto Nunyet Feyo of the Conservative People’s Party of Spain and Zordan Bardela, president of the far -right national alarm in France. Despite his party’s anti -immigration attitude, Bardela recently praised the “constant attention of the blessed Pope to the forgotten and the dignity of the most vulnerable”.
What security measures are applied?
Dams have already been placed inside and outside the Basilica of St. Peter to control the crowd, security checks have increased and staff distribute bottles of water due to hot weather.
Folder defense and security mechanisms have been developed throughout Rome and in the sky above the capital, including weapons against unmanned aircraft, a zone ban on flights patrolling fighter aircraft and sophisticated interference technologies. Units of fighting terrorism and sabotage are also on the ground.
Basilica and the surrounding area are patrolled by more than 2,000 police officers from now until the end of the Conquerment expected to take place early next month to select Francis’ successor. They will be supported by 400 traffic police officers who will help manage the diplomatic motorway.
Will funeral and burial be like those of his predecessors?
Francis chose to break the traditions that, when he approved a series of simplified rules that allow a Pope to be “placed and buried like any son or daughter of the church”, without the use of an elevated stretcher with pillows. Or, as Francis himself put it: “With dignity, but not on pillows. In my opinion, the ritual was overly elaborate. “
The papal funerals traditionally include three coffins, with the Pope’s body placed in a cypress wood coffin, which is then placed in a lead coffin, which, in turn, is placed in a casket of oak. Franciscan, however, stipulated that he wanted his body to be placed in a single, simple wood casket and zinc lined.
Where will Pope Francis be buried?
The choice of Franciscan burial place marks another rupture with tradition. Most popes have decided to rest in the caves beneath Saint Peter. But Francis chose instead of the royal Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino district of Rome, which is outside the Vatican.
The Marian Temple, which houses a famous icon of the Virgin Mary and a relic of the manger in which the baby Jesus was placed, was a favorite spot of Francis and often prayed there before and after his travels abroad.
“As I have always promised to the Virgin Mary, the place is already prepared,” he said in an interview on Mexican television two years ago. “I want to be buried in Santa Maria Matzore because it’s my great worship.”
Francis asked to be buried “on the ground, without special decoration” but with the listing of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
Once the funeral operation is over, Francis’ coffin will be transferred, with a procession, to Santa Maria Maggore. The Vatican has announced that people will be able to visit Francis’ tomb in Basilica since Sunday morning.
What will happen next?
The funeral will mark the beginning of novemdiales – the nine days of mourning and the functions offered to rest the Francis’ soul. The attention will then turn to the choice of his successor.
The conclave for the appointment of a new pope usually begins between 15 and 20 days after the death of the previous modifika. As soon as they gather in the Sistine Hat, 135 Cardinals – Cardinals under 80 – will give an oath of utter secrecy and begin their consultations.
After each round of secret ballot, the ballots are burned and added chemicals to color the smoke black or white. The black tobacco coming out of the 60 -foot chimney informs the concentrated outside that the vote has proven to be unclear. White tobacco means that the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world have a new pope.
Who are the dominant candidates for the next Pope?
As the recent Conclave movie has shown, the prediction of the next pope is not a simple matter.
Franciscus- the first Jesuit Pope- was a surprise option- a fact that Argentina immediately recognized when he jumped that his Cardinal colleagues had to “reach the edge of the earth” to find a new bishop of Rome.
But among the names often referred to as potential successors are Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian cardinal, Pietro Parolin, who serves as Vatican Foreign Minister, and Luis Antonio, former Archbishop of Manila.
