The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated on Saturday 26 April in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican has announced.
Cardinals already present in Rome and those who were able to get to the city after Pope Francis’ death on Easter Monday, 21 April, held their first meeting at the Vatican on 22 April.
About 60 cardinals met in the Vatican Synod Hall to decide when to move the Pope’s body from the chapel of his residence to St Peter’s Basilica and when to hold the funeral.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the liturgy, which begins a nine-day period of mourning and daily memorial Masses.
The deceased Pope’s body will be carried into St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing and prayer on 23 April, where hundreds of people have been gathering to pray since the announcement of the Pontiff’s death on Monday.
The public viewing is scheduled to end late on 25 April with another prayer service to close the coffin.
Vatican News has shared some of Pope Francis’ final moments, saying they were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early on Easter Monday.
The Pope wanted to make one last significant surprise by going to St Peter’s Square.
Among his last words were his thanks to Strappetti a day earlier, when he said, ‘Thank you for bringing me back to the square,’ referring to the Pope’s surprise appearance after giving his Easter blessing from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
At noon, after the Pope’s Easter ‘urbi et orbi’ message had been read for him, the 88-year-old Pontiff gave the solemn blessing. With his voice still weak, he wished everyone a Happy Easter and barely raised his arms as he made the sign of the cross.
‘The Pope wanted to make one last significant surprise by going to St Peter’s Square for a ride in the popemobile,’ a Vatican News report said.
The nurse, who had been by his bedside during his stay in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and then constantly at his side at the Pope’s residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae since his return on 23 March, reassured him that he could do it.
For 15 minutes, Pope Francis rode around St Peter’s Square and a portion of the wide boulevard leading to the square, filled with about 50,000 people. He blessed a few babies and tried to wave; the crowds were thrilled, waving and running where possible to get a closer view.
He did not suffer.
Vatican News reported the Pope returned to his residence on 20 April ‘tired, but happy’.
At around 5.30am the next day, Pope Francis became unwell. An hour or so later, he gestured to Strappetti with a wave of farewell and slipped into a coma, the report said.
‘He did not suffer. Everything happened quickly,’ according to those who were with the Pope those final moments, Vatican News reported.
Pope Francis’ body will lie in state until 26 April, in line with the rites and rituals ahead of and for celebrating the funeral, as published in the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis (Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff). The rites were originally approved by St John Paul II in 1998, modified after Pope Benedict XVI died on 31 December 2022, and revised and simplified by Pope Francis in 2024.
After the Pope’s funeral, there will be eight memorial Masses, including the Mass originally scheduled for the Jubilee for Adolescents on 27 April, as decided by the cardinals in Rome this week.
During the cardinals’ meeting, they also drew lots to determine the three cardinals who will serve a three-day term to assist the Chamberlain of the Church, US Cardinal Kevin J Farrell, with the general governance of the Church during the period without a pope.
The three cardinals chosen on 22 April were Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, former Vatican secretary of state; Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, Archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major; and Italian Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. After three days, cardinals present in Rome will draw lots once again to appoint the three cardinals to serve the next three-day term.
Cardinal Farrell also read aloud Pope Francis’ brief final testament, in which he had asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major and had offered his suffering for peace in the world.
The cardinals also decided that all beatifications that had been scheduled are postponed until the next pope decides the new date for the ceremonies.
The next closed-door meeting for all cardinals who are able to be in Rome will occur late on 23 April, local time.
A Solemn Pontifical Mass for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis will be celebrated by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Monday 28 April at 1pm. All are welcome.
For those unable to attend in person, the Mass will be livestreamed and broadcast on Community Channel C31 (Channel 44 on digital television) thanks to our broadcast partner C31.
Banner image: People gather in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican as the sun sets on 21 April ahead of the rosary for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. (Photo: CNS/Lola Gomez.)
