Pope Francis He will rest on Saturday after he lies in the state for three days in the Basilica of Saint Peter, where the faithful is expected to respected the first Latin American pontiff in history.
The cardinals met on Tuesday in the Vatican Synod Hall to draw the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’s successor, as the condolences launched himself around the world. According to current rules, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10.
The Cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10 am in Plaça de Sant Pere, to be celebrated by the Dean of the College of Cardinal, the Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. United States President Donald Trump said he and the first lady Melania Trump attended, and also expected Argentine President Javier Milei.
The Argentine pope died on Monday at the age of 88 after a stroke put him in a coma and led his heart to fail. He had been recovering in his apartment after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia. He made his last public appearance on Sunday, delivering a blessing of Easter followers of his popemobile, making a tour around Plaça de Sant Pere.
Its Easter appearance from the same loggia, where it was introduced to the world as the first pope of the Americas on March 13, 2013, was a book suitable for a 12-year-old papacy that sought to shake the Church and return it to its mission handled by the Gospel to take care of the poorest.
Vatican officials remember Francis
« He really gave everything he had until the end, » said Sister Nathalie Becquart, one of the highest women in the Vatican.
Although ordinary faithful will have the opportunity to pay for their respects from Wednesday, Vatican officials were allowed to say their farewells from Monday evening. Speaking to journalists after he settled in his respects, Becquart marvel at Francis’s final Easter greeting on his herd. « He really walked with his people, » he said.
The Italian cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said that it was Francis’s effort specifically to promote the role of women in the Church, which will be one of his greatest legacies. Ravasi said that Francis chose to be buried near his favorite Madonna icon, in a basilica in the city, and not the grottoes below Saint Peter, as is typical for the popes.
« He wanted to be buried under the shadow of a woman, in this case Mary, » said Ravasi, the former Vatican Culture Minister when he arrived at the first Cardinals meeting on Tuesday. « This is significant, his desire for the Church to make more for women. »
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Francis’s first images were released on Tuesday, showing him in red dresses and his bishop in a wooden coffin, with the Secretary of State of the Vatican who prayed on him in the chapel of the Hotel Domus Santa Marta where he lived and died.
In his last will, Francis said he wanted to be buried in St. Mary Major Basilica, which houses the icon of Salus Populi Romani de Mary. Before and after each foreign journey, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine style painting that presents an image of Mary, a cloth in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jewelry gold book.
Francis stopped at the basilica when he returned home from Gemelli Hospital on March 23, after his 38 -day stay, to deliver flowers to be placed in front of the icon. Returned on April 12 to pray before one last time.
The bells fired on the chapels, churches and cathedrals from all over the world, and the flags flew to Half-SAFF in Italy, India, Taiwan and the United States after Francis’s death was announced by the Camerlengo, who took over the Vatican after the death of a pope. Football matches in Italy and Argentina were suspended in honor of the Pope, who was a lifelong fan of Sant Lorenzo Football Club.
World leaders praised Francis for their leadership and moral compassion, while ordinary faithfuls remembered their simplicity and humanity.
« Like all Argentines, I think it was a rebel, » said Catalina Favaro, 23, who had come to pay his respects in the church of Buenos Aires, where Francis discovered his priestly vocation. « It may have been contradictory, but it was also nice. »
Eastern Timor, where Francis’s final outdoor mass attracted almost half of the population last September, President Jose Ramos-Horta praised Francis’s courage. « Pope Francis was a brave man who was not afraid to speak against the governors of the world seeking war, but they do not want to seek peace, » said Ramos-Horta.
« He challenged the powerful to act with justice, called nations to welcome the outsider, and reminded us that our common home, this land, is a gift that we must protect for future generations, » said Nigerian President Ball Tinubu, which is a Muslim. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and has around 30 million Catholics, representing around 14 percent of the population.
See the Pope’s coffin
The pope’s formal apartments at the apostolic palace and the Santa Marta Hotel were sealed on Monday evening, after a centenary ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as a Camerlengo had the task of announcing death and confirmed -once the cause was determined, presided over the rituals.
Francis chose not to live in the palace, but in a two -room suite in Santa Marta on the other side of the Vatican city. He died there and his body was transferred to the chapel of the Hotel in the lobby, where the private viewing was running on Tuesday for Vatican officials and members of the Pontifical Home.
In the changes of Francis last year, his body was not placed in three wooden coffins, as had been for previous popes. Rather, Francis was placed in a simplified wooden casket with a zinc coffin inside.
Once in Sant Pere, his coffin will not be put in a high ticket, as was the case with past popes, but only will be on the pews face, with the Paschal candle nearby.
« He was a pope who did not change his way when he dirty (his hands), » said Francis’s vicar for Rome, Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, in a mass in his honor. « For him, the poor and migrants were the sacrament of Jesus. »
After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the « noveli ». During this period, the cardinals arrive in Rome and gather in private before the conclave.
To give time to mount, the conclave must begin from 15 to 20 days after the « vacant seizure » (« vacant view ») is declared, although it can begin sooner if the cardinals agree.
Once the conclave begins, the cardinals vote in secret sessions in the Sistine Chapel. After voting sessions, ballots are burned in a special stove. Black smoke indicates that no pope has been elected, while white smoke indicates that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.
What has achieved two thirds of the votes wins. If he accepts, his election is announced by a cardinal of the Loggia of the Basilica of St. Peter who says in the world: « Habemus Papam » – Latin for « We have a pope ».
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