Vatican bids farewell to Pope Francis

On Saturday, April 26, the Vatican will bid farewell to Pope Francis. Thousands of people, including world leaders, will gather in St. Peterʼs Square for a funeral mass. After that, the pontiff will be buried outside the Vatican walls for the first time in 100 years, in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Reuters writes about this.

Over the past three days, nearly 250 000 people have paid their respects to the pontiff and passed by his body, which was placed in a coffin in front of the altar of St. Peterʼs Basilica.

The coffin with Francis will be carried out through the main door for an open-air funeral. The ceremony will begin at 10:00 Kyiv time.

More than 200,000 people, nearly 130 delegations from different countries around the world, and 50 heads of state are expected to attend the Popeʼs farewell ceremony.

In particular, the US President Donald Trump, former US President Joe Biden, Argentine leader Javier Milley, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Prince William of Wales, King Felipe VI of Spain, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders will be present.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also arrived in Rome, along with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and First Lady Olena Zelenska. Earlier, the presidentʼs participation in the ceremony was in question, as he might not be able to attend the funeral due to a number of important military meetings in Ukraine.

Security has been tightened in Rome and the Vatican ahead of the world leadersʼ arrival. A 24-hour no-fly zone has been imposed over Rome, and sniper units have been stationed on the rooftops of buildings along the Via della Conciliazione, which leads to St. Peterʼs Square.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the funeral liturgy. He will also declare a sede vacante, meaning that the Holy See has no leader, and will convene a conclave at a later date to elect the next Pope.

After the homily, which will be prepared by the cardinal, prayers will be offered by the faithful in French, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, German and Chinese. One of the prayers at the Liturgy will include a request to God that all people and nations “perseverely seek the way of peace”.

In a final farewell prayer, Cardinal Re will commend the Popeʼs soul to God and ask for comfort for the 1.4 billion Roman Catholic Church. He will then sprinkle holy water and incense on the coffin. At the end of the mass, the Sistine Chapel choir will sing one last time for Pope Francis.

After the service, the coffin will be carried through the "doors of death" to the left of the altar in St. Peterʼs Basilica and the 10-ton funeral bell will be rung.

A procession, accompanied by a crowd of people, will then take the Pope to his burial site, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore outside the Vatican. The burial itself will be private, but the tomb will be opened to visitors later.

• On April 21, the Vatican announced the death of Pope Francis. He died of a stroke and subsequent irreversible heart failure after a long illness — he was in the hospital from February 14 to March 23. The pontiff had developed bilateral pneumonia. His condition was serious.

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