The Last Mass for Francis: The Basilica of St. Martin, a bustling neighborhood of Rome, as seen by visitors and locals
Francis wrote in his will that he wanted his last earthly journey to end at the Marian shrine. He specified that he had visited the church at the beginning and the end of every apostolic trip he took during his 12-year papacy. He left the Vatican on his first day as pope.
Prof. Arcangeli wrote that the pope had hypertension, multiple bronchiectasis, and diabetes, and that he had been affected by respiratory failure. These took place when he was in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs.
Faithful from around the world are pouring into the Vatican to mourn Francis, who died Monday of a stroke and ‘cardiocirculatory collapse.’ He died of old age. Public viewing of his body will begin Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, after his casket is taken by procession from the Vatican hotel where he lived.
In a departure from tradition, Francis’ last testament states that he would be buried in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a small church in a bustling immigrant area of Rome.
Tradition holds that the icon was made by Saint Luke the Evangelist, the patron saint of painters. Francis was devoted to it, continuing a Jesuit tradition. According to the basilica’s website, since the Jesuit order was founded, Jesuits have “fostered devotion to the icon” by distributing copies of the icon throughout the world.”
Francis would visit the basilica after every foreign trip to pray before the Virgin Mary painting. He was last there about 10 days ago.
Three months ago a tourist from Guadalajara, Mexico, asked for the pope’s attention and ended up on a waiting list. She had been praying to him after she was diagnosed with leukemia. She made a pilgrimage to the Vatican to give thanks.
I was so excited when I met him, it was a dream. “Now we have to say goodbye,” Telles says, holding a rosary while strolling in St. Peter’s Square.
Before that, tourists and locals lit candles and placed flowers around a pillar in St. Peter’s Square, and sang hymn.
The Pallium of the Revised Archbishop of Rome, as worn by Maria Munoz, the pope of Alicante, Spain
Maria Munoz, a tourist from Alicante, Spain, says that he was a caring father and revolutionary pope. He tried to change the appearance of the church.
The Vatican holds a brief ceremony when a pope dies so that leaders from around the world can pay their respects.
The President and the first lady are expected to travel to Rome for the funeral. We look forward to it! Trump posted on social media. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said he would also attend.
Like the dead popes before him, Francis is dressed in red robes. The bishop of Rome has the traditional headdress on his head that symbolizes his status as a bishop. Over his chest lies a pallium, a strip of white wool decorated with crosses that is worn like a collar. It denotes the pope’s status as an archbishop.
Preparing a Vatican funeral: the Irish camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a Dublin-born naturalized U.S. citizen
The Vatican Publishing House also Tuesday released a preface written by Francis in February of a book in Italian by Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop emeritus of Milan, entitled ‘Awaiting a New Beginning. Reflections on older people.
“We must not be afraid of old age, we must not fear embracing becoming old, because life is life, and sugarcoating reality means betraying the truth of things,” the late pope wrote.
Until a new pope is named, the acting head of the Vatican is the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell — a Dublin-born naturalized U.S. citizen. The late pope had an apartment and he’s in charge of shutting it down, preparing the conclave and destroying the fisherman ring.
The Vatican’s media office posted video to social media late Monday showing the doors of Francis’ apartment being tied shut with red ribbon, then sealed with red wax.
The cardinals are going to the Vatican. Their conclave is expected to be held within 15 to 20 days of the pope’s death.
They vote, often in several rounds over several days, on who should be the next pontiff. Their votes take place in the Sistine Chapel and are completely secret.
Last year, Francis simplified the procedures for a papal funeral, specifying that only one coffin, a wooden one lined in zinc, should be used. Past popes were interred in three nesting coffins: one of wood, a second of lead and a third of wood.
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At the same time, the photos make clear that however much Francis tried to shake up the status quo, he did so cautiously. There are objects and figures in the images that are long-held traditions of the church.
These photographs, which were distributed by the Vatican, capture some of the legacy of simplicity that Francis tried to create. There is the spare setting, one unlike the ornate palace rooms where other popes lived and died. And there is the less elaborate single coffin, in line with the rules Francis instituted and his insistence on leading the Roman Catholic Church through an example of humility.
The Pope’s body was brought to St. Peter’s Basilica this morning. The body was carried in a red casket and a choir was singing while the cardinals chanted.
At the church, crowded with visitors, Spanish priest Rubén Martínez spoke of the sense of anticipation that weighs in the air. He was in Rome just an hour before heading to the church.
People lined up across St. Peter’s Square. Some held umbrellas to shield them from the sun as they waited for their moment to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.
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“I want to see him alive and well,” said Harvey from El Rica, who lived in Pennsylvania. I would love to see his body. I’m praying for him. My soul is with him.
When Harvey enters the basilica, she’ll find Francis lying in a wooden casket, dressed in red robes, wearing a papal miter and holding a rosary.
A few weeks after he became pope aids at the Vatican urged him to wear white trousers to match his white cassock, Austen Ivereigh, Pope Francis’ biographer, told NPR. He said that he would not accept the offer. I don’t want to look like an ice cream seller.”
Francis enjoys interacting with ordinary people. This was evident as he moved through the crowds in St. Peter’s Square this past Easter Sunday, the very day before he died. He hugged members of the public in the crowd without a barrier in his pope car, which was bulletproof.
The Vatican now says Francis was so weak he’d worried about whether he could cope with the appearance. But afterwards he reportedly said to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant: “Thank you for bringing me back to the square.”
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President Trump has confirmed he will attend. After the public exchange of words at the White House, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be set up for a potential meeting with his counterpart.
It will be Trump’s first foreign trip as president and he will be in the same spot as other leaders since he caused chaos by placing high import taxes.
He’d pray in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where an icon of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus before and after each flight out of Rome was located, during times of need and difficult times.