How to view Pope Franciscus’s funeral and what you can expect

Pope Francis will be laid on Saturday when dozens of world leaders, church officers and mourning people watch.

Francis’ funeral comes six days after Francis died of a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88 and then tens of thousands People paid their respect while he was capable of the Basilica of St. Peter.

After a funeral on Saturday morning in St. Peter’s, the coffin from the pope is brought to Rome and buried in the basilica of St. Mary Major – making him the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in More than a century.

It is not the only way in which Francis’s funeral breaks with tradition: he used his authority to simplify cemetery for future popes and has left specific instructions to mate his.

This is what you need to know about the day and how you can see it yourself.

When and where is the funeral?

The funeral mass of Saturday starts at 10 a.m. local time – 4 hours et and 3 hours CT.

It will be held at St. Peter’s Square, a large square directly in front of the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City.

After mass, the Vatican says, the body of the pope “will be taken in the basilica of St. Peter and then to the basilica of St. Mary Major where he will be buried.”

Why is the funeral in Rome?

Visitors will stand in line on Friday to enter the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, where Pope Francis will be buried after his funeral.

Piero Cruciatatti/AFP via Getty images

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Piero Cruciatatti/AFP via Getty images

Many popes are buried in the Vatican caves under St. Peter’s Basilica. But Pope Franciscus chose to be buried in Rome, in the basilica of St. Mary Major – about 2.5 miles away.

Francis chose St. Mary Major because he prayed there before and after every trip from Rome, and in difficult times such as the Covid-19 Pandemie.

“I have always had a great dedication to St. Mary Major, even before I became pope,” he said in one 2024 Interview That was converted into a book, The successor.

Buried the last pope outside the Vatican Was Leo XIIIHe died in 1903.

How can I look?

Viewers can view a live stream of the ceremony on the Vatican news Youtube -channel. The Vatican says that the live coverage of the funeral and procession will offer St. Mary Majors, but will stop for the funeral in the Basilica.

Many large broadcasters in the US and all over the world will also treat and stream the funeral, including NBC and Peacock” CBS and Paramount+ and ABC NewsDisney+ and Hulu.

Go for the latter Npr.org And the NPR app.

Who will be there?

A view of St. Peter’s Plein in Vatican City on Friday, the day before the Pope’s funeral.

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Antonio Masiello/Getty images

The Vatican says The masses are chaired by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re – the dean of the College of Cardinals, who will meet in the coming weeks to select the next Pope.

He will be accompanied by “Patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, inaugurated religious and charged faithfulness of the whole world.”

The Italian government expects that no fewer than 200,000 people will be present, including more than 100 foreign delegations, as NPR reported.

President Trump has confirmed his presence, making this the first foreign journey of his second term.

Other World leaders Those who are planning to be there include: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the United Nations; President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union; Javier Milei, president of Francis’ native Argentina; Ukrainian President VolodyMyr Zenskyy; Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, French President Emmanuel Macron; Michael D Higgins and Micheál Martin, the president and Taoiseach of Ireland; Polish President Andrzej Duda; The departing Chancellor Olaf Scholz from Germany; Spanish king Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William (on behalf of King Charles III).

The Kremlin says that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be at the funeral, According to Russian media reports. Putin is under a detention warrant of the International Criminal Court in connection with alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

What do we know about the procedure?

Francis’ coffin is sealed in a ceremony On Friday evening, the end of the public viewing period.

On Saturday morning, the funeral starts with a procession, led by a priest who carries a cross, the New York Times Reports. After the coffin has been recorded on the square, a book of the gospels is placed on top.

The service will largely be a conventional Catholic funeral, explains the NPR religion correspondent Jason Derose. And although it will mainly be in Latin, the program prayed in other languages ​​- Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Arabic – nodding after the global nature of the church.

NBC News report that The Swiss guards – who have protected the pope and the apostolic palace for centuries – will kneel for the dedication of the host. There will be a sermon that discusses the life of the pope, although it will not be a praise.

The Vatican says that because Pope Francis took care of the poor, a representative group “Van poor and needy” will be on the stairs that lead to the basilica of St. Mary Major to express their last respect before his coffin is buried.

How does Francis break with tradition?

Tens of thousands of people paid their respect while the body of Pope Francis was in the state in St. Peter’s Basilica for three days.

Massimo Valicchia/Nurphoto via Getty Images

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Massimo Valicchia/Nurphoto via Getty Images

The last funeral ceremony for a sitting Pope – Pope John Paul II in 2005 – was for three hours and one of the largest meetings of statesmen in the world. The most recent papal funeral was for Pope Benedict XVI in January 2023, a decade after resigning.

But Francis’s will look pretty different.

After he had challenged the funeral of his predecessor, the Pope collaborated with the Master of Liturgical Ceremonies of the Vatican to simplify the funeral rituals for future pontiffs. Francis wrote in his autobiography from 2024 that a pope should be buried “with dignity, but like every Christian, because the bishop of Rome is a pastor and a disciple, not a powerful man of this world.”

A remarkable change is that the pope’s body no longer needs to be placed in three coffins, lead and oak – instead, Francis’s body was placed in a simple wooden box with a zinc box. While he was capable of, the coffin was not placed on an elevated bar, but opposite the benches.

In his will, Francis asked that his grave was in the ground; Simple, without specific decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus ” Latin for Francis. The Vatican says that the grave was made with marble from the Liguria region of ItalyThe land of Francis’s grandparents.

What happens afterwards?

The Vatican says The believers can start visiting on Sunday, the morning after Francis’s funeral.

Francis’ funeral marks the beginning of nine days Mourning The novemialles mentioned, with special masses every day.

Soon Roman Catholic cardinals will call together to choose a new pope. The conclave must start 15 to 20 days after the death of the Pope, which would place his start date somewhere between May 6 and 11 May.