Pope Francis died on Monday, aged 88, at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. His death set in process a complicated but time-tested procedure for mourning the pontiff and for choosing his successor.
Here is what is expected to happen next.
Upon death
Time-honoured rituals have been drafted and refined over the centuries to ensure secrecy and an orderly transition. The carefully choreographed pageantry provides order to a church in its most dramatic moment of flux.
The Vatican said in a statement that Francis had died at 7.35 on Monday morning (12 noon IST).
A pope’s death is confirmed by the head of the Vatican’s health department and the cardinal chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, who becomes the Vatican’s de facto administrator. The pope’s body is dressed in a white cassock and brought to the pope’s private chapel.
The cardinal chamberlain, camerlengo in Italian, is a position now held by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, a 77-year-old American of Irish origin. He and other officials, along with members of the pope’s family, congregate in the chapel for a ceremony. The body is placed in a coffin made of wood and lined with zinc. The pope is dressed in red, his miter and pallium placed next to him.
After the ceremony, the camerlengo drafts a document authenticating the pope’s death, affixing the doctor’s report. He secures the pontiff’s private papers and seals his apartments, which in the case of Francis are a large section of the second floor at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City guesthouse used by visiting cardinals, where Francis has lived throughout his papacy.
He also arranges for the destruction of the so-called fisherman’s ring, used by the pope to seal documents, with a ceremonial hammer, to prevent forgeries.
Paying respects
Francis brought an unpretentious style to the church — rejecting elaborate outfits and the ornate papal apartments. His plans kept that up to the end, scaling back some of the funerary pomp and ceremony.
In rewriting the funeral rites in 2024, Francis simplified several elements. Since the 13th century, the bodies of popes have gone on public view, their embalmed bodies placed on a raised pedestal. When John Paul II died in 2005, his body was first brought to the Apostolic Palace within hours for a private viewing for cardinals, bishops and other members of the church hierarchy, as well as prominent Italian officials.
Francis did away with that sort of viewing. Instead, a public viewing will take place directly in St Peter’s Basilica, where thousands have thronged to pay respects to popes in the past. But his body will remain in the coffin, which will not be on a raised pedestal. The College of Cardinals decides on the day and hour that the pope’s body will be brought to St Peter’s Basilica, in a procession led by the camerlengo, and on when the viewing will commence.
The funeral
The funeral and burial of the pope are supposed to take place four to six days after his death, and funeral rites in various churches in Rome will last nine days.
Past popes were put in three nested coffins, one of cypress, one of zinc and one of elm. But as part of Francis’ rule change, he decreed that he would be buried in a single coffin, made of wood and lined in zinc.
The coffin is closed the night before the funeral. The pope’s face is covered by a white silk veil, and he is buried with a bag containing coins minted during his papacy and a canister with a “rogito”, or deed, briefly listing details of his life and papacy. The rogito is read aloud before the coffin is closed.
The new rules also allow for a pope to be buried in a church other than St Peter’s Basilica. Francis has asked to be buried instead in the Basilica of St Mary Major, a church dear to him and one he often visited to pray in front of an icon of the Virgin Mary.
The conclave
Within 15 to 20 days of the pope’s death, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, will summon the cardinals to Rome for what is known as a conclave to elect Francis’ successor.
The period between the death of a pope and the election of a new one is called the sede vacante, or “the seat is vacant”. During that time, the College of Cardinals keeps general oversight of the church, but it is barred from making any major decisions.
When the cardinals meet, they gather in the Sistine Chapel. All cardinal electors must swear an oath of secrecy and vote by secret ballot. Only cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope. Cardinals are not allowed to leave the conclave except in rare cases. The word conclave — from the Latin “with key” — refers to the isolation imposed on them, which is meant to keep the electoral process from dragging on.
During the conclave, the cardinals live in Casa Santa Marta, which was built on John Paul II’s orders to replace the improvised rooming arrangements in the papal palace.
New York Times News Service