- Pope Francis’ funeral will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10:00 a.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City
- The service will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals
- The pope died on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88
The date that Pope Francis will be laid to rest has been revealed.
According to Vatican News, the Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday, April 22 — the day after the pontiff’s death at 88 — that the pope’s funeral will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10:00 a.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
The service will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals.
It will conclude with the Ultima commendatio and the Valedictio. According to BBC News, the Ultima commendatio will be delivered by Re and is the final commendation — a concluding prayer where the pope will be formally entrusted to God.
After the funeral, Pope Francis’ body will be taken into St. Peter’s Basilica before being transferred to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome for the burial.
In 2023, Francis told a Mexican broadcaster that he wanted to be interred in St. Mary Major instead of the Vatican, per the Associated Press. The pontiff also said that he had already decided he wanted to be buried near an icon of the Virgin Mary that is on display at the basilica.
“It’s my great devotion,” Francis said at the time, according to the outlet. “The place is already prepared.”
Francis will be the first pope in more than a century not to be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, per BBC News.
In his final testament, Francis specified that he wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” and with the inscription of his papal name in Latin — “Franciscus” — according to Reuters.
In another break from tradition, his burial will also not require the traditional three coffins consisting of cypress, lead and oak.
The pope’s body is currently lying in an open casket in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, his residence at the Vatican. Last year, Francis approved new funeral rites stating his body should be on view in a simple coffin rather than being placed on an elevated bier, per the Associated Press.
In a news release, the Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Francis will be taken from Casa Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, April 23, at 09:00 a.m. local time.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell will preside over the “rite of translation,” which will begin with a moment of prayer, according to Vatican News.
The pope’s body will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica until the burial, for the public to pay their respects.
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The funeral is expected to be attended by numerous world leaders, including President Donald J. Trump, who confirmed he and First Lady Melania Trump will be attending in a post on Truth Social.
“Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome,” Trump wrote on the social media platform Monday, April 21. “We look forward to being there!”
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis died on Monday, April 21, at 7:35 a.m. local time. His cause of death was revealed as 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.”
Francis’ death came just under a month after he was discharged from the hospital, where he was treated for double pneumonia, following a 38-day stay.
The news of his death began a nine-day period of mourning, known as Novendiale.
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