Vatican City
Cnn
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The coffin of Pope Francis arrived at the Saint-Pierre basilica, where he will extend in the state to allow the Catholic faithful to pay tribute before the funeral on Saturday which should be assisted by world leaders, including American president Donald Trump.
Bells slowly penetrated while the coffin entered the basilica at 9:30 am, local time (3:30 am) Wednesday, while the mourning people in piazza outside applauded.
The litany of the Saints, an official prayer of the Roman Catholic Church, is now underway at the Basilica.
Wednesday’s procession began with the fact that Francis’ body was moved from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his papacy. According to the Vatican.
The coffin crossed the Piazza Santa Marta and the Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani, passing through the Arc des Bells and on Place Saint-Pierre, before entering the Saint-Pierre basilica through the central door.
Before the procession, Camerlengo Kevin Farrell, the cardinal responsible for organizing the funeral and the Papal conclave, organized a brief service in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta with a short antiphon, or song, of hope.
“Thanks the Lord for countless gifts that he granted to the Christian people by Pope Francis of the servant,” said Camerlengo in prayer. “Let us ask him in his mercy and his kindness to grant the pope an eternal house over fire in the kingdom of heaven and to comfort with celestial hope, the papal family, the church of Rome and the faithful of the whole world.”
Now at the Saint-Pierre basilica, Camerlengo chairs a service, known at the word liturgy, which will allow participants to pay tribute to the fire. This takes place at the altar of Confessio – the space that opens in front of the main altar of the basilica.
Camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, distributed holy water to Francis’ body. The cardinal then opened with a deacon inviting those who gathered to the Latin prayer and then reading the Gospel of Saint-Jean.
The faithful will recite several religious verses, including Psalm 22, “the Lord is my shepherd”, during the service.
Participants will also recite Catholic Catholic Prayers from the Dead during the liturgy.
The service should end with the antiphon Marian, a prayer to the mother of Jesus Mary.
At the end of the service, the public will be able to pay tribute to the Pope, whose body will be in the state of the Saint-Pierre basilica for three days.
For those who wish to visit the Pope and pay tribute, the basilica will be open Wednesday until midnight, Thursday from 7 a.m. to midnight, local time, and Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.
After being lying in the state for three days, Francis’ funeral will start at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m.) Saturday – six days after his death. The last papal funerals – for Pope Benoît XVI in 2023 – also took place six days after his death.
The Vatican has announced that Francis’ funeral will be held outside, on Saint-Pierre square. Previous papal funerals also took place outside, thousands of mourning people filling the open space in front of the basilica.
A series of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have confirmed that they will go to the Vatican for the Service. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among the main European leaders traveling to the Vatican.
Tens of thousands of others are expected to appear. About 50,000 people came to the Benedict funeral in 2023, while around 300,000 attended John Paul in 2005.
The Pope died in the morning after the healthiest day of the Christian year, when the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite his poor health, Francis was seen several times in public in the Vatican during Holy Week, culminating in an appearance of Easter Sunday where he delighted the crowd at the Saint-Pierre basilica in Rome.
His death after a stroke and heart failure was affected by other diseases, including a “previous episode of acute respiratory failure”, high blood pressure and type II diabetes, according to a press release from the Vatican press office, signed by the Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the City of the City of the Vatican Andrea Arcangeli.
This is a story in development and will be updated.
