Cardinals have decided that the public viewing of Pope Francis will begin Wednesday in St. Peter's Basilica, after his casket is taken by procession from the Vatican hotel where he lived.
His funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
Francis died Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke that put him in a coma and led his heart to fail. He had been recovering in his apartment after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia. He made his last public appearance Sunday, delivering an Easter blessing and making what would be his final greeting to followers from his popemobile, looping around St. Peter’s Square.
In retrospect, his Easter appearance from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world as the first Latin American pope on March 13, 2013, was a perfect bookend to a 12-year papacy that sought to shake up the church and return it to its Gospel-mandated mission of caring for the poorest.
The Vatican announced that the first meeting of the Congregation of Cardinals, the gathering of the cardinals currently in Rome, would occur Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Vatican’s synod hall.
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They could decide to allow public viewing of Francis as soon as Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. Under norms approved by Francis last year, the funeral and burial must occur between Friday and Sunday.
In his final will, Francis confirmed he would be buried at St. Mary Major basilica, which is outside the Vatican and home to his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary. After every foreign trip, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jeweled golden book.
Francis stopped by the basilica on his way home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38-day hospital stay, to deliver flowers to be placed before the icon. He returned April 12 to pray before the Madonna for the last time.
First published: 10:23, 04.22.25