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Pope Francis' Funeral Details Revealed Along With First Photos of Late Pontiff in Open Coffin
Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday morning, marking the first of nine days of mourning. The Vatican has also released images of the late Pope in an open casket.
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to an individual's death.
Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, will be laid to rest on Saturday (April 26) at 10:00 AM local time in St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the service, and he will also deliver the Ultima Commendatio et Valedictio, which is a Latin phrase to describe the final rites and prayers performed at the end of a Pope's funeral.
After the funeral, Pope Francis' body will be transferred to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome for burial. He will be the first pope in more than a century not to be buried in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. In 2023, he told a media outlet that he wishes to be buried near an icon of the Virgin Mary in St. Mary Major instead of the Vatican.
The funeral is expected to be attended by several world leaders, including President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, the Vatican has also released the first images of the late Pope in an open casket in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, his residence at the Vatican. He is seen adorned in a red robe with a papal mitre and a rosary.
Earlier today, it was confirmed that the late Pope suffered a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse. The pontiff was also affected by a "previous episode of acute respiratory failure in bilateral multimicrobial pneumonia, multiple bronchiectasis, arterial hypertension, and type II diabetes."
The news of Francis' passing comes weeks after he was discharged from a hospital following his long battle with double pneumonia, among other health issues. On Easter Sunday, he made a brief public appearance in St. Peter's Square.
The late head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State had a long history of health problems. At the age of 21, he developed pleurisy and had part of one of his lungs removed in Argentina. Since the start of 2023, he has suffered repeated influenza.
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