Pope Francis is carried into the Basilica at St. Peter’s Square, in Vatican City, on April 23.Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail
Pope Francis’s next-to-last journey began early on a warm, sunny Wednesday in Rome, when his body was carried in an open casket from his Vatican residence to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he will lie in state for three days before his final journey for his Saturday burial.
The Vatican News said that more than 20,000 worshippers packed St. Peter’s Square to watch the procession and pay their respects to Francis, who died at age 88 on Monday morning from stroke and heart failure after an illness had kept him in hospital for five weeks.
The atmosphere in the square was solemn and restrained as the basilica bells rang and hymns in Latin were played over loudspeakers. When the casket was carried up the steps of the basilica, the crowd broke into sustained but subdued applause.
The Vatican opened St. Peter’s Basilica to the general public Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, with thousands of people filling the central aisle and Swiss Guards standing at attention. Francis’s body will lie in state in the basilica until Saturday’s funeral and burial.
The Associated Press
Worshippers stood solemnly in the square. Only three days earlier, Francis, from his wheelchair, celebrated Easter mass from the loggia of the basilica, though he had the energy to speak only a few words.
“He taught people to be kind and loving above anything else,” said Maureen Austin, an elementary school counsellor who was visiting Rome from Massachusetts with her husband. “It’s not about the Church or the hierarchy. It’s about your relationship with Christ.”
The ceremony began just before 9 a.m., when Francis’s body was blessed in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, his simple residence behind the basilica, in the presence of many of the cardinals who, in two weeks or less, will elect a new pope. The unadorned event was led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born American prelate who, as camerlengo, or chamberlain, oversees the transition to the new pope.
Cardinal Farrell thanked God for Francis’s 12-year ministry. “Let us ask Him, in His mercy and kindness, to grant to the late Pope an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven, and to comfort with the celestial hope the papal family, the Church in Rome and the faithful throughout the world,” he said.
Francis’s coffin was then taken outside for the procession to the basilica. The wooden coffin, lined with red cloth, was tilted slightly forward, allowing Francis’s body to be seen. His arms were crossed, a rosary between his fingers. At the front of the procession were dozens of priests dressed in white, followed by bishops and cardinals in resplendent red and white robes.
Among them was Canada’s Cardinal Michael Czerny, who, as the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, reported directly to Francis. Another Canadian cardinal was Thomas Collins, the former archbishop of Toronto, who will join the voting conclave. “It was the most profound moment,” he told a Guardian reporter. “But from the simple prayers to the incense, it was no different to a funeral that any baptized person would have.”
Thousands gather outside the Basilica at St. Peter’s Square.Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail
Francis’s funeral at St. Peter’s will be attended by many world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Javier Milei, President of Argentina, Francis’s home country.
His body will be taken into the heart of Rome, to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the city’s four main basilicas and the favourite church of the late Pope. Invariably, he visited the church after each of his foreign trips. His wish was to be buried in the church, breaking more than a century of tradition. Popes are usually interred in elaborate coffins in the crypts below St. Peter’s.
The 135 elector cardinals – those under age 80 who are eligible to vote for a new pope in a secret ceremony in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel – are either in Rome or en route. Selecting the winner usually requires several rounds of voting over several days, and a two-thirds majority is required. Francis was elected after five rounds over two days in 2013 after the surprise resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.
Some of the faithful who watched the procession hope the new pope will share the traits of Francis. “It would be nice to see a younger pope who will build on Francis’s inclusivity theme,” said Irish visitor Naoimh Kelly, who lives in England.
Ms. Austin’s wish was for a progressive pope who would open the Church more fully to women. “I want to see the day when women become priests,” she said.
Pope Francis had indicated a desire to be buried in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome. According to a Vatican expert, he will be buried in a "simpler, wooden coffin". Francis died on Monday aged 88 years old.
The Associated Press