The pontiff’s death has set in motion ancient Vatican rites before a new papal election.
The funeral of Pope Francis will be held on Saturday, the Vatican has announced.
The funeral ceremony will take place on Saturday at 10:00am (08:00 GMT) at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, it was announced on Tuesday, shortly after cardinals began a meeting to prepare for the funeral. World leaders are expected to attend the ceremony in advance of a conclave to elect the next head of the Catholic Church.
All cardinals currently in Rome were summoned to the meeting to outline the funeral arrangements and start preparations for the succession.
As well as agreeing the timing of the funeral, the cardinals decreed that the body of the pontiff will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning at 07:00 GMT for public viewing. Francis is currently laid out in a coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence where he lived during his 12-year papacy.
The Vatican said in a statement that Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over a prayer, after which the coffin will undertake a short itinerary that will culminate with entering the Basilica through its central door.
The camerlengo will then preside over a liturgy at the altar, at the end of which it will be possible for the public to begin paying their respects to Pope Francis’s body.
![A cardinal cardinal puts the Fisherman's Ring, made of gold-plated silver, on a finger of Pope Francis during his inauguration mass, Vatican City, 19 March 2013 [File: EPA/Ciro Fusco]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/3491194-1745302656.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C749)
Francis died aged 88 on Monday following a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said, bringing an end to a 12-year papacy defined by advocacy for the marginalised and at times clashes with traditionalist forces in the Church.
Having spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year with double pneumonia, the pope had returned to his modest Casa Santa Marta residence nearly a month ago and appeared to be on the mend. He had even addressed worshippers in St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
His passing has triggered time-honoured Vatican protocols, including the ceremonial destruction of the Fisherman’s Ring and papal seal, which symbolises the end of his papal authority.
World leaders and royals, including United States President Donald Trump and President Javier Milei of Argentina, the pontiff’s native country, are preparing to attend the funeral ceremony.
Breaking with tradition, Francis wished to be buried at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, which is outside the Vatican and home to his favourite icon of the Virgin Mary, rather than at St Peter’s Basilica.
As the announcements regarding the funeral and public viewing of the body were made, the Vatican also published photos and a video of Pope Francis in his open coffin, dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand.
The Church is now preparing for a conclave, expected to begin after May 6, where 135 cardinal electors, nearly 80 percent of whom were appointed by Francis, will vote in secret to choose his successor.
With no clear favourite emerging, cardinals will use General Congregations in the coming days to reflect on the Church’s future direction.
