By Kate Quiñones
AIC staff, April 22, 2025/18: 17
Tuesday, during the first general congregation of the cardinals in Rome, the 60 cardinals estimated present chose the date of the funeral of Pope Francis and the celebrations of suspended beatification.
The meeting at the camera to discuss the upcoming conclave and other questions relating to the interrelage took place at 9 a.m., the local time the day after the death of the pontiff while the cardinals rushed from the whole world to the eternal city.
As part of the interrelage period, cardinals will meet frequently to make various decisions concerning the funeral and future papal conclave.
The cardinals set the papal funerals for Saturday April 26 at 10 a.m., Rome time on Saint-Pierre square. Pope Francis will be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, at his request, following the funeral. The body of Pope Francis will be transferred Wednesday morning to the Saint-Pierre Basilica for the faithful to pay tribute.
The funeral of Pope Francis are the first mass of “novidials” – a cycle of nine days of liturgical and spiritual preparation for the conclave. The cardinals will arrive from all over the world to participate in the general congregations in front of the Conclave, known as “preparatory sessions”.
The assembly of Tuesday and a half started with a silent moment of prayer for the rest of the soul of the late Saint-Père.
In the Assembly, the cardinals suspended the next celebrations of the beatification until the newly elected Pope takes office.
During the meeting, the cardinals took an oath to follow the standards of the interrelage, which are detailed in the 1996 apostolic constitution of Pope John Paul II Universi Dominici Gregis. These standards include the maintenance of “rigorous secret” around the election of the next Pope.
The Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is the Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, read the will of Pope Francis.
During general congregations, the cardinals will meet on important decisions such as the date of the conclave and the approval of the necessary expenses.
The conclave can start from 15 days after the death of the Holy Father so that all the voting cardinals can attend there Universi Dominici Gregis. Once a maximum of 20 days have passed, the cardinals are forced to start the conclave. However, the rules also allow a previous start if the cardinals agreed and all the voters arrived.
All cardinals should participate in the conclave unless a serious obstacle prevents them, while cardinals over 80 are not eligible to vote in the conclave. Of the 252 Catholic cardinals, 135 have voting privileges in the conclave.
Kate Quiñones is an editor for the Catholic press agency and member of the Fix college. She was published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register and Catholicvote, and she graduated from the Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
