Pope Francis – the first Latin American pontiff, and the leader of some 1.4 billion Catholics – died aged 88 on April 21, Easter Monday, prompting an outpouring of grief across the world.
Who’s at the Vatican?: Political and religious leaders, along with thousands of pilgrims, have gathered at the Vatican to bid farewell to Francis, six days after he gave his Easter blessing to those crowded into St. Peter’s Square.
• Francis’ final resting place: After a “simplified” ceremony in the Vatican, Francis’ body will be taken over the River Tiber to be buried in a tomb in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica are tolling slowly as the congregation begins to take their seats. A hush has fallen over the square, where some 250,000 people have gathered.
More than 50 heads of state are attending today’s funeral.
Francis – who chose his papal name after Francis of Assisi, the Italian saint who renounced his family wealth and championed the poor – took steps while he was alive to simplify the rites around his death to make them more “down to earth.”
The Vatican said the funeral will follow the rites laid out in the “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis.” This liturgical book, detailing the procedures following the death of a pope, was published in 2000 and revised by Francis last year.
Some of those revisions have already been on display. Unlike after previous papal deaths, Francis’ body was placed immediately inside his coffin, which has been left open to allow people to pay their respects.
Diego Ravelli, master of apostolic ceremonies, said Francis had sought to “simplify and adapt” the rituals, so that the papal funeral is “that of a pastor and disciple of Christ, and not of a powerful person in this world.”
Elise Allen, CNN’s Vatican analyst, said Francis, the first Argentine pontiff, was the “pope of simplicity.”
“He lived that way in Buenos Aires, and he tried to bring that into the papacy and the way that he lived as pope because that’s something he wanted for the church itself – to be more simple, to be more in contact with reality, with the lives of people around,” Allen said.
In his will, Francis gave simple instructions for his burial: “The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.”
Rather than the splendor of the Vatican, Francis has opted to be buried in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. He will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.
When the Vatican’s gates opened to the public at 6 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET), crowds of nuns and other faithful raced up the road leading to St. Peter’s Square, hoping to get the best possible view of the pope’s funeral.
As the square filled up, police asked people not to run.
“The crowd control is very good,” said José Antonieta, who travelled from Scotland with his daughter. They walked to the gates of the square at 6 a.m. and nearly three hours later were close to the entrance of the colonnade.
Antonieta, draped in the flag of his native Venezuela, said they feel “blessed” to be here after narrowly missing the pope’s lying in state on Friday.
The Vatican has prepared for as many as 250,000 people to flock to St. Peter’s Square and 1 million more to line the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) procession route from the Vatican City through Rome to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, in hopes of seeing the pope’s modest coffin as it travels to his final resting place.
More large viewing screens have been set up in the square and the road leading to it. Nearby piazzas in Rome have also been equipped with TVs, as large crowds descended on the area.
And many more of world’s 1.4 billion Catholics are expected to watch the funeral broadcast from home.
CNN
