Vatican City, Apr 22 (EFE).—Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10:00 a.m. (8:00 GMT) in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy See Press Office said on Tuesday, with world leaders expected to attend the ceremony.
His body will be moved to the Vatican Basilica on Wednesday for public homage and to let the faithful pay their final respects to the Pope, who ed away on Tuesday at the age of 88.
The ceremony will be officiated by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, and will be attended by heads of state and dignitaries from around the world.
Following the funeral, the coffin will be taken to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial, in accordance with the wishes expressed in the late pope’s will.
On Wednesday, the body will be moved following a moment of prayer led by the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell.
The procession will through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, proceeding through the Bell Arch to St. Peter’s Square and into the Basilica via the central door.
At the Altar of the Confession, beneath Bernini’s baldachin, Cardinal Farrell will lead the Liturgy of the Word, after which public visitation will begin.
The duration of the viewing has not been specified, as Pope Francis made revisions to the traditional funeral rites in the updated edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis.
The pope’s body will lie in a wooden casket lined with zinc. In another departure from tradition, it will not be placed on a catafalque, and the papal staff will not accompany the body during the public exposition.
Additionally, Pope Francis requested the elimination of the long-standing practice of using three nested coffins—cypress, lead, and oak.
After the funeral, the coffin will be immediately transported to Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Francis requested to be buried.
“I ask that my tomb be prepared in the niche of the side nave between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica,” Francis said in his will dated June 29, 2022.
“The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration, and with the only inscription: Franciscus.” EFE
ccg-sk
