The funeral of Pope Francis solemnly took place Saturday morning in St. Peter’s square drawing roughly 200,000 people, including 50 heads of state, 10 reigning monarchs and throngs of global media outlets providing coverage of the ritual expected to draws billions of viewers.
Mourners gave Pope Francis his final salute on a sunny morning six days after his death, at 88, on Easter Monday. Since Wednesday, more than 120,000 faithful had lined up in St. Peter’s Basilica through Friday to pay their respects.
In keeping with his stated wish to simplify the papal funeral rites, Pope Francis’ body had been lying in a wooden casket at St. Peter’s, having done away with the tradition of three coffins — two made of cypress and oak, and one of lead.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden were among the first to arrive for pope’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square. U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump also came early and stopped in front of the pontiff’s closed coffin to pay their respects. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was also in attendance. Trump and Zelensky met privately before the funeral, the White House said in a statement. Photos show they met in St. Peter’s Basilica before the service.
The crowd broke into applause as images of Zelensky’s arrival flashed on the big screen in St. Peter’s.
Delegations sat according to alphabetical order — in French. This means that Trump of the U.S. (in French, États-Unis) was positioned between the African states of Eswatini and Ethiopia, and not far from French President Emmanuel Macron. Biden sat further back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a Kremlin statement on Tuesday he had has “no plans” to attend. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Putin so police in Italy — which is one of the 125 ICC member states — would have be forced to detain him.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the funeral liturgy and delivered the final commendation and valediction.
The funeral of Pope Francis began with a short musical chant and psalm spoken in Latin after an open Book of the Gospels has been placed on top of Pope Francis’ closed coffin carried by pallbearers from inside St. Peter’s and placed on a red carpet on the edge of the church steps. The funeral mass for Francis is being sung largely in Gregorian chant.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista in his homily praised Francis for being a “pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”
“Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization,” Re said.
“His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant,” the cardinal continued, noting that Francis’ first journey as pope was to Lampedusa, the Sicilian island of Lampedusa that is a first port of call for refugees crossing from north Africa and has become a symbol of the migrant crisis.
The crowd broke into applause when Re mentioned Pope Francis’ trip to Lampedusa.
“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and inviting honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” Re added.
As part of the moving final act of Francis’ funeral mass Cardinal Re consecrated the bread and wine for Holy Communion as the Sistine Chapel Choir, made up of 20 men and 30 boys, chanted. A multitude of priests distributed communion, representing the body and blood of Christ, among the large crowd across the square.
The distribution of communion led to Cardinal Re delivering the final commendation and valediction.
“Let us commend to God’s tender mercy the soul of Pope Francis, Bishop of the Catholic Church, who confirmed his brothers and sisters in the faith of the resurrection,” the Dean of the College of Cardinals said in Latin.
This was followed by a Byzantine Liturgy recited by representatives from the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that are separate from the main Roman Catholic Church but share the pope as leader.
The solemn requiem mass ended with a concluding prayer formally entrusting Francis to God as his casket was brought back into St. Peter’s as bells tolled a death knell.
In his testament, Francis said he does not wants to be buried in St. Peter’s, where most popes are layed to rest, but instead wished for his “final earthly journey” to end in Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica, which is across town roughly 3.5 kilometers from St Peter’s.
“The fact that Francis simplified his burial rites by wanting to be buried in St Mary Major Basilica outside the Vatican and that he’s being laid out in a simple wooden casket rather than the traditional three coffins of predecessors means that, even in death, he is still trying to communicate the values of his papacy: simplicity and humility,” Christopher Lamb, CNN’s Vatican Correspondent, told Variety.
“And we’re seeing the response to this with the big numbers of people who are turning out,” Lamb added.
Francis’ funeral procession, following the service, is being held at walking pace across central Rome and past the Imperial Forums.
The pope’s funeral, according to strict protocol, is to be followed at least a week later by the secretive conclave, in which 135 cardinals from around the world gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next Catholic Church leader. The conclave is now expected to begin sometime between May 5 and 10.
“It’s been remarkable how this event has garnered huge interest and attention from across the world,” CNN’s Lamb noted to Variety. “I think this papal transition, with the funeral and conclave, still draws huge interest, particularly after the movie “Conclave.” It lends itself to very much to being a television event with its big set piece moments.”
As for who the front-runner is to be the next pontiff, Lamb said “I think it’s very open.” That is because 110 of the cardinal electors have been chosen by Francis and largely reflect his vision of a more inclusive church. “Some of them come from parts of the world that never had cardinals before; it’s very internationalized. You’ve got the Cardinals from Tonga, Haiti, Central Africa, Mongolia. I think there’s a lot of unpredictability.”
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