Vatican announces funeral for Pope Francis on Saturday

The body of the late Pope Francis will be transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica on April 23 to lie in state until his funeral on Saturday morning, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.

The Vatican has also released images of Pope Francis in an open coffin, dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand. The pictures were taken in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis’s residence at the Vatican.

The Holy See Press Office announced today that Pope Francis’ funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, April 26 at 10:00 AM in St. Peter’s Square, the open ground in front of St Peter’s Basilica. Cardinals had met this morning to decide on the date of the funeral.

The dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, will lead the funeral service. At the end of the funeral, Cardinal Re will deliver the final commendation–a concluding prayer in which the Pope will be formally entrusted to God–and the body will be moved to St. Mary Major for burial.

On Wednesday, the coffin containing the Pope’s body will be carried from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica for the faithful to pay their respects, the VAtican said.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of translation on April 23, which will begin at 9:00 AM with a moment of prayer. The procession will pass through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, according to the Holy See Press Office.

The procession will then exit through the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square and enter the Vatican Basilica through the central door. At the Altar of the Confession, the Cardinal Camerlengo will preside over the Liturgy of the Word, at the conclusion of which the visits to the body of the Roman Pontiff will commence.

World leaders are likely to attend the funeral. U.S. President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that he and First Lady Melania Trump will attend the Pope’s funeral at the Vatican.

“Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday afternoon. “We look forward to being there!”. He added: “He’s a very good man who loved the world. And he especially loved people that were having a hard time. And that’s good with me.”

The Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, Dr. Andrea Arcangeli had on Monday evening released the official medical report on the death of Pope Francis, which was confirmed through electrocardiographic thanatography.

According to the medical report, the 88-year-old Pope had a prior history of acute respiratory failure caused by multimicrobial bilateral pneumonia, multiple bronchiectases, high blood pressure, and Type II diabetes.

The rite of the certification of death and placement in the coffin took place on Monday evening at 8:00 PM in the chapel on the ground floor of the late Pope’s residence in the Casa Santa Marta.

According to his wishes Pope Francis will be laid to rest in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary and will become the first Pope in more than a century not to be buried in the Vatican, in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica.

He also requested to be buried in a simple wooden casket, unlike other Popes who were buried in the traditional three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.

Meanwhile, mourners from around the world continue to flow into St Peter’s Square to pay their last respects.