The funeral ceremonies calendar for Pope Francis, who died of cardiovascular disease and a stroke, has been announced. The body will remain in Santa Marta until Wednesday, when it will be moved to St. Peter’s. The funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m., in the square in front of the Vatican Basilica. The Council of Ministers has decided 5 days of national mourning.

The world and Italy are mourning the death of Pope Francis. Like many countries, Italy has also declared five days of national mourning. Bergoglio was 88 years old and was elected to the Pontificate, after the resignation of Benedict XVI, in March 2013. The body will remain in Santa Marta, until Wednesday, when it will be moved to St. Peter’s. The funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m., in front of the Vatican Basilica. Many world leaders are expected: among them Trump and Macron. The coffin will then be taken to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.

Cause of Death of the Pope

The Death was due to stroke and cardiovascular collapse. The Vatican has announced the causes of death and the will of Pope Francis, who died yesterday morning at the age of 88. This was announced by the Director of the Health and Hygiene Unit of the Vatican City State, Prof. Andrea Arcangeli. According to the death certificate, signed by Andrea Arcangeli, the Pope died yesterday morning at 07:35 local time in his apartment in the Foresteria Santa Marta in the Vatican. Pope Francis’ death was reportedly caused by a stroke, a coma and irreversible heart failure. In addition, it was stated that the Pope suffered from previous illnesses, such as acute respiratory failure, bilateral polymicrobial pneumonia, hypertension and diabetes, which accompanied the condition in question.

Pope Francis’ Funeral

Meanwhile, the body of Pope Francis is in the Chapel of Santa Marta, where it will remain until Wednesday, April 23, the day on which it will be transferred to St. Peter’s. It will then be exposed, until Friday evening, to the devotion of the crowd of faithful. The pontiff, placed in a simple wooden coffin with a rosary in his hands, wears the red chasuble, the pallium and the white miter. The transfer to St. Peter’s (at 9:00 on Wednesday) will be preceded by a moment of prayer presided over by Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, then the coffin will cross Piazza Santa Marta and Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani, entering St. Peter’s through the central door. Here, at the Altar of the Confession, the Liturgy of the Word will be held before the official opening of visits. Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday at 10:00, in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. The liturgy will be presided over by Cardinal Dean Giovanni Battista Re. Many world leaders are expected. Among them, Trump, French President Macron and Ukrainian number one Zelensky. After the funeral, Pope Francis’ coffin will be taken to St. Peter’s Basilica and from there to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.

The Pope’s Will

The Vatican also shared the will of Pope Francis. In the Pope’s will it was written that he wanted to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where he went to pray in private before and after each of his trips abroad. Pope Francis stated that he wanted his tomb to be buried, simple and without any particular decoration, with only the word “Franciscus” written on it.

Pope Francis had announced it on several occasions: for his funeral he wanted a more streamlined ceremony than those seen with Popes in the past, “with dignity but like every Christian,” he said. Then he wrote it in his will: “I ask that my mortal remains rest awaiting the day of resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. I ask that my tomb be prepared in the niche of the side nave between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica, wrote Begoglio. And again: “The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus.”

In Santa Marta in front of the Pope, the emotion of the faithful

The brown wooden coffin with grain, bare, geometric, without decorations, placed in front of the altar and slightly tilted to allow the faithful to see. The Pope with the red chasuble and the golden miter, a dark rosary intertwined with his fingers. Around a red cord and at the foot of the coffin some floral tributes left by visitors. In the background stand two Swiss guards holding halberds. One of the two is black as proof of the ‘plurality’ that now characterizes Swiss society, and by extension also the papal guard: an aspect that certainly would not displease Pope Francis. In the funeral chapel set up in the chapel on the ground floor of Casa Santa Marta, the one where the deceased Pontiff celebrated many masses, visitors are filing by this morning, in particular Vatican employees with their families. Then there are also prelates, nuns, managers of institutions connected to the Vatican.

Pope: unpublished text, death is not the end, but a new beginning

“Death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something. It is a new beginning, as the title wisely highlights, because eternal life, which those who love already experience on earth in the occupations of every day, is starting something that will not end. And it is precisely for this reason that it is a ‘new’ beginning, because we will experience something that we have never fully experienced: eternity”. Thus Pope Francis in an unpublished text that comes out Thursday as a preface to the book by Cardinal Angelo Scola “Waiting for a New Beginning. Reflections on Old Age” (Libreria Editrice Vaticana).

Last farewell to the Pope

Like everyone else, I have spent 12 years at the Pope’s house. The weather is sunny and inviting. I got in line. We began to enter as a group. Slowly we reached the chapel where the Pope’s coffin had been laid to rest. People crying, people praying, people saying “he was my father” and children’s voices. This time, those sitting or kneeling in the pews are praying for the Pope. There is an atmosphere of intense sadness, great participation and anxiety, under the constant surveillance of the guards who coordinate the flow and indicate the directions to follow. Some are emotional. Some feel the emotion and have to let it go. At the end of the visit, everyone stands in front of the coffin for a few minutes and silently bids the Pope their last farewell. A separation that leads to the recognition of a personality known so closely for years can only bring pain. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 the funeral procession will pass through Piazza Santa Marta and Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani to St. Peter’s Basilica, then pass through the Arch of the Bells to St. Peter’s Square and enter the Basilica through the central door. After the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell, public visits to the faithful will begin.