The funeral of Pope Francis will be held on Saturday at St. Peter's Square, marking the beginning of a carefully choreographed process to select a new pope filled with history and politics.
All 252 cardinals from around the world will attend the funeral – and then at least 120 will be elected in a sacred process to the next leader of the Catholic Church. There has been a lot of speculation about who the Cardinal chose and whether the new pope will continue Francis’ concerns about poverty and reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Vatican News reported that the Vatican announced that the 88-year-old pope died of a stroke and a “irreversible heart cycle collapse.”
As the 266th leader of the church, his commitment to social justice and his focus on the church ministry of immigration, poverty and oppressed is respected by many Catholics and theologians. Although he followed the church’s conservative doctrines about abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, he was shocked by the church’s conservative norms when he told pastors not to “obsess over” these issues.
Pope Francis' Saturday funeral and after
The funeral is scheduled to be held at 1 a.m. Pacific time.
Following tradition, the Vatican's health department verified the Pope's death in his home, his body was placed in a coffin and transferred to St. Peter's Basilica for public viewing, funerals and funerals.
NPR reported that during this period, Cardinal Kevin Farrell served as Cardinal Camerlengo, a person appointed by the pope and responsible for certain duties during the transition to successor. These duties include destroying the symbolic fisherman ring of the late pope (used to seal Vatican documents) and preparing for the meeting.
The Pope's body must be buried between the fourth and sixth days after death. Last year, Francis buryed the Pope in three coffins only two: a wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside, according to PBS. To be consistent with the change, he will be buried in the Cathedral of Major St. Mary near the Vatican, a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary he visited during every apostolic trip he attended during his 12-year Pope.
After the funeral, there were 9 days of official mourning called Novendiali. This is the Cardinal College that will gather at the Sistine Church in Vatican City for the meeting.
What you should know about the meeting
The meeting was a gathering of 120 cardinals who held a secret vote at Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope.
The principal does not have a set date; however, it must be Sede vacantAnnounced the vacancy of the Pope caused by the death or resignation of the Pope.
During the voting meeting, the vote is filled out, calculated, and then burned. After each vote, smoke was released from the chimney on the top of the church. Black smoke means there is no choice for the Pope and a new vote will be held. White smoke means that the Pope has been chosen.
To be elected, the next pope needs two-thirds of the vote.
The vote will include cardinals from historic congregations such as France, Italy and the United States, as well as other places in a more distant location hosted by Francis, a Royal Giorgio Marengo appointed in 2022.
“While there are still cardinals from some Catholic cities around the world, he will choose cardinals from peripheral locations,” Deck said of the late pope. “This is consistent with his idea that the church needs to go to the periphery, not just stay in the center, but also focus on people who are not. It is usually the people who are forgotten in poor areas.”
Currently, 80% of the Cardinals who attend the meeting will be selected by Francis himself.
“This is different from what we used to be in some way because it includes many cardinals from smaller parts of the world,” Deck said.
Why there is no Cardinal in California at the conference
For a long time, California would not have held cardinals at conferences.
Cardinal Roger Mahony (from 1985 to 2011) leads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles – banned for two reasons: he participates in sexual abuse hidden in the church, forbids him from involving public or administrative duties, and at 89, he is older because the final participant must be at least 80 years old.
California does have Cardinal Robert McElroy, who was born in San Francisco and has long worked in churches in San Francisco, San Mateo and, most recently, San Diego. McElroy rose steadily to become the Archbishop of Diocese life and development and held that position until he was appointed the sixth bishop of San Diego in March 2015.
Francis appointed then-Bishop McElroy to the College of Cardins in 2022, and three years later, he appointed Cardinal McElroy as the eighth largest bishop of Washington on January 6.
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was unable to attend because he was not a cardinal. David Gibson, director of the Center for Religion and Culture at Fordham University, said Francis believes his views are too conservative to elevate him to the position.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
