Pope Francis will be resting Saturday after being lying in the state for three days in the Saint-Pierre basilica, where the faithful should return to the first American Latin pontift in history.
The cardinals met on Tuesday in the Synod Hall of the Vatican to trace the next steps before a conclave begins to choose the successor of Francis, while condolences are piled up around the world. According to current standards, the conclave must start between May 5 and 10.
The cardinals established the funeral on Saturday at 10 a.m. on Saint-Pierre square, to be celebrated by the dean of the Cardinals College, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. US President Donald Trump said that he and First Lady Melania Trump planned to attend, and Argentinian president Javier Milei is also planned.
The Argentinian pope died on Monday at 88 years after a stroke put him in a coma and led his heart to fail. He had recovered in his apartment after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia. He made his last public appearance on Sunday, delivering a blessing from Easter and followers of the Easter blessing of his Potemobile, in a loop on the Place Saint-Pierre.
His appearance of Easter of the same Loggia where he was presented in the world as the first pope of the Americas on March 13, 2013, was a leaflet appropriate to a 12-year papacy which sought to shake the church and to return it to its charitable mission to the Gospel.
Vatican officials remember Francis
“He really gave everything he had, until the end,” said sister Nathalie Becquart, one of the most stored women in the Vatican.
While ordinary faithful will have the opportunity to pay tribute to Wednesday, the Vatican officials were allowed to say goodbye from Monday evening. Addressing journalists after having paid tribute, Becquart was amazed by the final salvation of Francis Easter to his herd. “He really walked with his people,” she said.
Italian cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said that it was specifically Francis’ efforts to promote the role of women in the church which will be one of his greatest inheritances. Ravasi noted that Francis had chosen to be buried near his favorite icon of Madonna, in a basilica through the city, and not in the caves under Saint-Pierre, as is typical of the popes.
“He wanted to be buried under the shadow of a woman, in this case Maria,” said Ravasi, the former Minister of Culture of the Vatican when he arrived for the first Cardinals meeting on Tuesday. “It is important, his desire for the Church by doing more for women.”
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The first images of Francis’ body were released on Tuesday, showing him in red clothes and the tab of his bishop in a wooden coffin, the Secretary of State of the Vatican praying on him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where he lived and died.
In his final will, Francis said he wanted to be buried at the St. Mary Major basilica, which houses the Romani icon of Salus Populi de Marie. Before and after each foreign trip, Francis went to the basilica to pray in front of the Byzantine style painting which presents an image of Mary, draped in a blue dress, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a golden book jewel.
Francis stopped at the Basilica when I got home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38 -day stay, to deliver flowers to be placed in front of the icon. He returned on April 12 to pray before that one last time.
Bells have entered chapels, churches and cathedrals from around the world and the flags have stolen from half of the staff in Italy, India, Taiwan and the United States after the death of François by Camerlengo, which took care of the Vatican after the death of a pope. Football matches in Italy and Argentina were suspended in honor of the Pope who was a fan of San Lorenzo Soccer Club.
The world leaders congratulated Francis for his moral leadership and his compassion, while the ordinary faithful remembered his simplicity and his humanity.
“Like every Argentinian, I think he was a rebel,” said Catalina Favaro, 23, who had come to pay tribute to him in the church of Buenos Aires where Francis discovered his priestly vocation. “It may have been contradictory, but it was good too.”
In East Timor, where Francis’ last outdoor mass attracted almost half of the population last September, President Jose Ramos-Horta praised Francis’s courage. “Pope Francis was a courageous man who was not afraid to denounce the leaders of the world who seek war, but do not want to seek peace,” said Ramos-Horta.
“He challenged the powerful to act with justice, called nations to welcome the foreigner and reminded us that our common house – this land – is a gift that we must protect for future generations,” said Nigerian president Bola Tinubu, Muslim. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and has around 30 million Catholics, which represents around 14% of the population.
Pope’s coffin display
The Pope’s formal apartments in the apostolic palace and at the Santa Marta hotel were sealed on Monday evening, after a secular ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as Camerlengo had the task of announcing the death and confirming it once the cause was determined, presided over the rituals.
Francis chose not to live in the palace, but in a series of two rooms in Santa Marta on the other side of the city of Vatican. He died there and his body was transferred to the hotel chapel in the hall, where private viewing was underway on Tuesday for the Vatican officials and the members of the Pontifical House.
In the modifications made by Francis last year, his body was not placed in three wooden coffins, as had been for previous popes. Francis was rather placed in a simplified wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside.
Once in St. Peter’s, his coffin will not be put on a raised beer – as was the case with past popes – but will simply be placed simply in front of the benches, with the Easter candle nearby.
“He was a pope who did not change his way when it was a question of getting dirty (his hands),” said the vicar of Francis for Rome, Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, in a mass in her honor. “For him, the poor and migrants were the sacrament of Jesus.”
After the funeral, nine days ago of official mourning, known as “Novinali”. During this period, the cardinals arrived in Rome and meet in private before the conclave.
To give everyone enough time to come together, the conclave must start 15 to 20 days after the “vacant sede” – the “vacant See” – is declared, although it can start sooner if the cardinals agree.
Once the conclave begins, the cardinals vote in secret sessions in the Sistine Chapel. After the voting sessions, the ballots are burned in a special stove. Black smoke indicates that no pope was elected, while white smoke indicates that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic church.
Whoever obtained two thirds of the votes wins. If he accepts, his election is announced by a cardinal of the loggia of the Saint -Pierre basilica who says to the world: “Habemus papam” – Latin for “we have a pope”.
