Cardinals will meet Tuesday on the Vatican to start scheduling Pope Francis’ funeral and burial, planning the conclave to elect his successor and making other decisions about running the Catholic Church as world leaders and the strange faithful grieve the pontiff’s death.
Most immediately, they’ll determine when his body could be moved into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
Francis died Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke that 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 Sunday, delivering an Easter blessing and making what can be his final greeting to followers from his popemobile, looping around St. Peter’s Square.
In retrospect, his Easter appearance from the identical loggia where he was introduced to the world as the primary Latin American pope on March 13, 2013, was an ideal bookend to a 12-year papacy that sought to shake up the church and return it to its Gospel-mandated mission of caring for the poorest.
The Vatican announced that the primary meeting of the Congregation of Cardinals, the gathering of the cardinals currently in Rome, would occur Tuesday at 9 a.m. within the Vatican’s synod hall.
They could resolve to permit public viewing of Francis as soon as Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. Under norms approved by Francis last 12 months, the funeral and burial must occur between Friday and Sunday.
In his final will, Francis confirmed he can be buried at St. Mary Major basilica, which is outside the Vatican and residential to his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary. After every foreign trip, Francis would go to the basilica to wish before the Byzantine-style painting that features a picture of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jeweled golden book.
Francis stopped by the basilica on his way home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38-day hospital stay, to deliver flowers to be placed before the icon.
He returned April 12 to wish before the Madonna for the last time.
The world reacts
Bells tolled in chapels, churches and cathedrals world wide and flags flew at half staff in Italy, India, Taiwan and the U.S. after Francis’ death was announced by the Vatican camerlengo. Soccer matches in Italy and Argentina were suspended in honor of the Argentine pope who was a lifelong fan of the San Lorenzo soccer club.
World leaders praised Francis for his moral leadership and compassion, while strange faithful remembered his simplicity and humanity.
“Like every Argentine, I feel he was a rebel,” said 23-year-old Catalina Favaro, who had come to pay her respects within the Buenos Aires church where Francis discovered his priestly vocation. “He can have been contradictory, but that was nice, too.”
In East Timor, where Francis’ final outdoor Mass drew nearly half of the population last September, President Jose Ramos-Horta praised Francis’ courage. “Papa Francisco was a brave man who was not afraid to talk out against the rulers of the world who seek war, but don’t want to hunt peace,” Ramos-Horta said.
“He challenged the powerful to act with justice, called nations to welcome the stranger, and reminded us that our common home — this Earth — is a present we must protect for future generations,” said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who’s Muslim. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has around 30 million Catholics, representing about 14% of the full population.
Viewing the pope’s coffin
The pope’s formal apartments within the Apostolic Palace were sealed Monday evening, following a centuries-old ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo had the duty of announcing the death and confirming it once the cause was determined, presided over the ritual.
Francis selected to not live within the palace, though, but within the Domus Santa Marta hotel on the opposite side of Vatican City. He died there and his body was transferred to the hotel chapel within the lobby, where a personal viewing was being held Tuesday for Vatican officials and members of the pontifical household.
In changes made by Francis last 12 months, his body was not placed in three wood coffins, because it had been for previous popes. Rather, Francis was placed in a simplified wood coffin with a zinc coffin inside.
Once in St. Peter’s, his coffin is not going to be placed on an elevated bier, but will just be be placed simply facing the pews, with the Pasqual candle nearby.
Funeral and burial
The burial must happen between the fourth and sixth day after his death, meaning a possible date is Saturday or Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend. Argentine President Javier Milei can be expected.
The funeral will probably be presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals or, if that shouldn’t be possible, by the vice dean or one other senior cardinal. The current dean is Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91. The vice dean is Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 81.
Re and Farrell, the camerlengo, could have key roles in the approaching days as they summon the cardinals and prepare for the conclave to elect Francis’ successor.
Choosing the subsequent pope
After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, often known as the “novendiali.”
During this era, cardinals arrive in Rome to take part in meetings before the conclave to elect the subsequent pope.
To give everyone time to assemble, the conclave must begin 15-20 days after the “sede vacante” — the “vacant See” — is said, although it may possibly start sooner if the cardinals agree.
Once the conclave begins, cardinals vote in secret sessions. After voting sessions, the 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 subsequent head of the Catholic Church.
The one who has secured two-thirds of the votes wins. If he accepts, his election is announced by a cardinal from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica who publicizes “Habemus Papam,” Latin for “We have a pope.”
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