Pope Francis’ funeral date announced by Vatican as first images of his body released

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Pope Francis‘The funeral has been scheduled for the 10 am local time (4 am edt) on Saturday in the Basilica of San Pedro, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, after a meeting of the Cardinals College at the headquarters of the City-State of the Catholic Church in the heart of Rome. The coffin leading to the Pope, which Died Monday morning After suffering a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88, he will be taken to a procession on Wednesday morning, accompanied by Cardinals, to San Pedro since his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he died.

The Pope’s body was buried Monday in a coffee in the chapel of his residence in Santa Marta. He The Vatican launched the first photos and videos on Francis’s Tuesday in his coffin, wearing a red robbery with the papal miter on his head and a rosary intertwined in his hands.

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Pope Francis’s body is seen in a coffin in the chapel of Santa Marta’s residence in the Vatican, where the deceased Pontiff resided and then died at the age of 88, on April 21, 2025.

Brochure/Vatican news service


The images showed the cardinals and other church officials acted what the Vatican said was the formal confirmation of the death of the Pope and praying for his body.

The interim administrator of the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-American who will play an important role in the funeral and the later conclave events in the coming weeks, will preside over the procession and ritual transfer of the Pope’s body to St. Peter.

The pontiff will be in the state before his funeral in the basilica starting Wednesday morning, said the Vatican. The funeral will be celebrated by the Dean of the Faculty of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.

The papal funeral is divided into Three separate phasesor “stations”. They are the preparation of the body, the visualization of the body and then the burial.

Who will come to Pope Francis’s funeral?

The funeral in the Basilica of San Pedro on Saturday will attract “Patrecas, Cardinals, Archbishops, bishops and priests from all over the government,” said the Vatican. It will also attend several world leaders and other dignitaries.

The Pope’s coffin will take through the so -called 500 -year -old basilica “for death” to the left of the main altar, and a single bell will hit him.

President Trump said Monday that he and the first lady Melania would attend, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zensky and Emmanuel Macron de France.

The Chinese government indicated on Tuesday that no decisions had been made about which officials could attend the service in the Vatican.

What happens after Pope Francis’s funeral?

After the funeral mass in St. Peter’s, Pope Francis’s coffin will be taken to the Basilica or Santa Maria in Rome, where he will be buried. The Pope chose to be buried in the smallest basilica, which is about four miles away, surpassed the walls of the Vatican. He prayed in St. Mary’s often, before and after the duration of international trips, his 12 -year pontificate.

Between 15 and 20 days after the death of the Pope, the cardinal voters will meet in the Vatican and will be sealed from the world behind closed doors for the papal conclave, the centenary process of choosing the next Pope.

Only cardinals under 80 years of age, currently a group of approximately 135, are eligible to vote in a conclave.

Within the Vatican Sistine Chapel, the cardinals will throw ballots for their choice to lead the Church, repeating the process until A candidate Emerges with a two more third majority. The paper tickets are burned after each voting round, sending black smoke to indicate that the option has not yet been reached, and finally the white smoke to reveal that a new Pope has been selected.

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