Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST, 08:00 GMT), the Vatican has confirmed.
The Vatican has also released images of Pope Francis in an open coffin, dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand.
Currently Pope Francis’ Body Lies in Rest at Vatican Chapel.
He will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning April 22nd 2025, where his casket willlie in stateuntil burial for the public to pay their respects.
Pope Francis 88, died of a stroke and subsequent heart failure, at 7.35am in his apartment at Casa Santa Marta on Monday 21st April 2025 on the celebration of Easter Monday. His cause of death was confirmed through an ECG test, the Vatican said.
Francis, who twice almost died when hospitalised with severe pneumonia in February 2025, also suffered from multiple bronchiectasis, arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
According to Church custom, it should typically be held within four to six days after the pontiff’s death – with the funeral mass taking place in St Peter’s Square.
Papal funerals have traditionally been elaborate affairs, but Pope Francis acted last year to simplify his arrangements. He will be the first Pope in more than a century not to be buried in the Vatican, in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica – opting instead to be laid to rest in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, near his favourite icon of the Madonna.
He also requested to be buried in a simple wooden casket, unlike his predecessors who were buried in the traditional three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.
The pontiff’s death has prompted an outpouring of grief from Catholics across the globe. From South Sudan to Argentina, Poland to the Philippines.
There’s a steady stream of people going into the church of St Mary Major, where the Pope has asked to be laid to rest after his funeral on Saturday.
Barriers stretching down the street indicate an even bigger influx is expected in the coming days, according to the local police.
Many leaders from both the religious and political lines continue to send condolence messages with the most senior member of the Catholic Church in the UK, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, says that a “serious voice has fallen silent” now the Pope has died.
The cardinal is among those eligible to cast their vote for – and possibly become – the next Pope as part of the mysterious conclave process to be held after the funeral.
A number of world leaders have confirmed their attendance at the burial ceremony of Pope Francis this Saturday.
Within hours of Francis’s death on Monday 21st April 2025, Argentinian President Javier Milei said he would attend the service. Other leaders are the US President Donald Trump and her wife First Lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky among others.
Dozens of world leaders and religious figures are likely to attend the funeral, alongside hundreds of worshippers.
Pope Francis I, was born December 17, 1936, Buenos Aires, Argentina and named Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
He was the first Pope from the Western Hemisphere, the first from South America, and the first from the Jesuit order.
By Radio Sapientia
22nd April 2025
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