VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis is laid to rest on Saturday at a ceremony reflecting his priorities as a pope and desires as a pastor: Presidents and princes will attend his funeral at St. Peter Square, but prisoners and migrants will be introduced to the basil.
About 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, which Francis is choreographed when last year he redesigned and simplified the rituals and rituals of the Vatican. His goal was to emphasize the role of the Pope as an ordinary priest, not a “powerful man of this world,” Vatican said.
It was a reflection of Francis’s 12-year project for the radical reform of the papacy, to emphasize its pastors as servants and to construct a “poor church for the poor.” It was a mission that he formulated only days after his election in 2013 and explained the name he chose as Pope, in honor of St. Francis from Assisi, “who had the heart of the poor in the world,” according to the official decree of the Pope’s life placed in his ark on Friday night.
Nevertheless, the powerful ones will be present on Saturday. US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Chief and European Union leaders join Prince William and the Spanish Royal Family in leading official delegations. Argentineian President Javier Miley had the pride of the place where the Argentine nationality of Francis was obtained, even if the two did not understand much and Francis alienated many Argentines, never returning home.
Francis breaks with the recent tradition and will be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary, near the main station of Rome, where a simple underground tomb awaits him only with his name: Franciscus. 300,000 people are expected to arrange the route of 4-kilometers (2.5 miles), which will bring the casket of Francis from the Vatican through the center of Rome to the Basilica after the funeral.
Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit Pope, died Easter on Monday at the age of 88 after undergoing a stroke while recovering home from pneumonia.
With his funeral, preparation can now start seriously to host the age -old process of choosing a new pope, a conclave, which is likely to begin in the first week of May. Meanwhile, the Vatican is run by a handful of cardinals, key Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, 91-year-old Dean of the Cardinals College, who chaired the funeral and organized the secret vote in the Sistine Chapel.
The crowds waited hours in line to give their respect to Francis
More than three days this week, over 250,000 people stood in a queue for hours to give their final respect, while Francis’s body lay in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican kept the doors open at night to accommodate them.
“He was an excellent, humble man who changed many laws and always for better,” said a worshiper from his native Argentina Augustin Angelikola while waiting on a line. “Now it’s a sad thing for the whole world that all this happened. We didn’t expect it, it had to happen, but not so soon.”
But even with the extended hours, that wasn’t enough. When the Vatican closed the doors to the general public at 7:00 pm on Friday, the grieving were turned into works.
A special connection to the Basilica
Even before becoming Pope, Francis had a special attachment to St. Mary Major. He is home to the Madonna Byzantine -style icon, Salus Popoli Romani, to which Francis was particularly devoted, so he would go to pray before him before and after each of his foreign trips like Pope.
He decided to have his tomb, located in a niche next to the chapel, which houses the icon, with the reproduction of his simple silver thoracic cross over the marble tombstone.
The choice of the Basilica is also symbolically significant given its relationship with the Jesuit religious order of Francis. St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, celebrated his first liturgy in the Basilica of Christmas in 1538.
The Vatican said that 40 special guests will greet his casket on the Piazza in front of the Basilica, reflecting marginalized groups Francis Prioritized Pope: homeless people and migrants, prisoners and transgender people.
“The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” quoted the Vatican Francis, explaining the choice. The actual funeral will be private, chaired by cardinals and several close assistants.
Italy has more than 2500 police officers and 1,500 soldiers who provide security, which also includes a disposal of a torpedo ship from the shore and the placement of fighter jets in a standby mode, Italian media reported.
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