By Ollus Ndomu
The Vatican has announced that the funeral for Pope Francis will be held this Saturday, April 26, and presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals. The Funeral Mass will take place on the parvis of St. Peter’s Basilica, in keeping with long-standing Catholic tradition for a deceased pontiff.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope and a towering figure of compassion and reform in the Roman Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. According to a statement from the Vatican press office, his death was caused by a cerebral stroke that led to irreversible cardiac arrest. The pontiff had been battling recurring respiratory complications, including double pneumonia, in recent months.
On Tuesday, the Vatican released the first official images of Pope Francis lying in state in an open coffin. He is seen clad in a red papal robe with the white papal mitre on his head and a black rosary in his hands—a solemn, traditional image meant to reflect his lifelong devotion to the Church and its faithful.
The late pope’s body will be transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning, where he will lie in state until the day of the funeral. Thousands of pilgrims and mourners are expected to line up to pay their final respects to a pope widely seen as one of the most transformative spiritual leaders of the modern era.
“In accordance with the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis (nn. 82-109), the Funeral Liturgy will follow the prescribed rites for a deceased pontiff,” the Vatican said in an official communiqué.
World leaders and religious figures are expected to attend Saturday’s Funeral Mass, while global tributes continue to pour in from across faiths and borders. Pope Francis’s nearly 12-year papacy was marked by his efforts to modernize the Church’s message, center the voices of the marginalized, and bring Catholicism closer to the global south.
The Vatican has not yet confirmed where Pope Francis will be buried, but speculation points to the traditional burial crypts beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, near his predecessors.
The College of Cardinals will soon begin preparations for a conclave to elect the 267th pope.
About The Author
Leave a comment