The death of Jorge Mario Bergoglioduring the last 12 years head of the Catholic church under the name of Francisco, Open a waiting compass for the choice of your successorafter strict protocols arranged for funeral.
The rituals, which began with the same announcement of the death of the Argentine Pope at 88 years of age, have left throughout history Little room for improvisation. However, and faithful to what was his pontificate, Francisco wanted to leave his seal with some news.
The funeral
The own Francisco took care of the script of his funeral in 2024 -The first of a Holy Father in functions since 2005- with the declared purpose that “the potatoes are veiled and buried like any child of the Church.”
The renewal, regulated in the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificishe set Some changes, several linked to the composition of the coffin, the procession towards the Basilica of San Pedro and its exhibition during the three days to the parishioners before the funeral, who must begin between the fourth and the sixth days after the death.
The greatest novelty on this occasion has been the election made by Francisco for the location of his grave, Out of the Vatican. For the rest of his body he has selected the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, a place of great meaning to which he went to pray after his choice and always visited before each trip.
Francisco also decided that His body will not rest discovered on pillows in the burning chapel arrangedhence It will be placed inside a single open coffinand not in three (cypress, lead and oak) as it had become accustomed.
It is not the first time that a Pope decides not to be buried in the Vatican caves, where the bodies of 23 pontiffs rest, but something that had not happened in the last 120 years.
As established by the Apostolic Constitution, Irish Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, as part of the Camarlengo functions that he assumed since 2019, will preside over the rite of the official certification of the death of Pope Francis and the placement of his body in the coffin.
At the verification ceremony, which will be held in the chapel of the Domus From the house of Santa Marta, the Eminent Dean of the Cardenalicio College, the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the family of the Pope, the highest authority of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the State of the city of the Vatican will participate.
Vacant headquarters
Once the death of Francisco has been made official HE declares the vacant headquarters and nine days in mourninga period known as Novelndiani.
Until the election of the new Pope, the administrative and management decisions of the Vatican are assumed by the Camarlengo Farrell, in addition to the cancellation of the pontifical ring and the closure of the papal rooms.
During his period at the head of the Catholic Church, Camarlengo cannot make appointments and for his work he will be assisted by three cardinals chosen at random, and renewed every three days.
The conclave
He New Chief of the Catholic Church will emerge from consensus among the 136 cardinals They have the right to vote during the conclave, traditionally summoned between 15 and 20 days after the death of a Pope.
However, this could be the first time that this period would be shortened, designed at times in which a prudential margin should be given for the arrival in Rome of all cardinals from very distant places.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Will presides over the Rite of the Ascertainment of Death of Pope Francis and Placement of His Body in the Coffin On Monday Evening.
The Rite Will Take Place in The Chapel of The Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta At 8:00 PM … pic.twitter.com/isuidelfg5
– Vatican News (@vaticannews) April 21, 2025
The modification of this section was promoted by Benedict XVI in 2013, shortly before resigning, and establishes the beginning of the conclave before the planned time once all cardinals have arrived at the Vatican, this time from 71 countries of the five continents.
The election process must be conducted by the Dean of the Cardinal Collegeposition that Cardinal Battista RAE has occupied since 2020, but when he overcome this 80 years -limit to participate in the election -his functions must be assumed by the oldest cardinal of the order of the bishops, in this case the Italian Pietro Parolin, until now Secretary of State of the Vatican.
Cardinal votes will happen in the Sistine Chapel. During the first day one will be held as a score, and in the following two will be held in the morning and two in the afternoon until the successor is chosen.
He quorum necessary to choose the new Pope is two thirds, a disposition that pursues the maximum consensus. Once reached, the announcement to the world of the new Pope from the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro will correspond to the Frenchman Dominique Mamberti in his status as Cardinal Protodiácono, for being the first cardinal of the order of the deacons.
