Vatican City – The funeral of Pope Francis will take place in the Vatican on Saturday at 10 am local time (8:00 GMT), with hundreds of thousands of guests and murters that are expected to attend the final ceremonies of the late Pontiff.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, will be among the dignitaries traveling to the Vatican for the ceremony, which is a simpler issue than the papal funerals.
Last year, the Argentine Pope amended the funeral rites to demonstrate that he was a “disciple of Christ” instead of “a powerful man of this world.”
Who will be there?
In addition to an important religious event, papal funerals also have an important diplomatic dimension.
The Pope is the head of the novel Catholic Church, but also leads the Holy See-A Sovereign Legal Entity with a seat in the United Nations and the Vatican City-State. There are about 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, concentrated mainly in Europe, the Americas and more and more in Africa.
For this reason, papal funerals tend to attract large amounts or political figures. When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, his funeral attracted some 70 presidents and prime ministers, which makes him one of the greatest meetings of world leaders in history.
Among those who have already confirmed their assistance to Francis’s funeral on Saturday are the president of the United States, Trump, the UN Chief, Guterres and the president of Ukraine, Volodyymyr Zenskyy.
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has no plans to attend, according to the Kremlin, but there will be a delegation from China.
Together with these political figures, there will be a large number of Catholics and other supporters.
The Italian government said Tuesday that he expected that at least 200,000 foreigners travel to Rome for the funeral. Althegh, the Vatican is a sovereign state, is located in the heart of the Italian capital, and Italy will help administer some logistics elections.
However, there is some reason to think that the possible participation will be higher than the estimate of the Italian government: the last funeral of a Pope, John Paul II, attracted about four million attendees.
That said, the number of mourners on Saturday may not reach that maximum. While both potatoes enjoyed high levels of popularity, John Paul had served for 26 years, compared to Francis’s 12. Moreover, John Paul’s native Poland, where he had a large number of fans sufficiently close to Italy to facilitate large -scale trips.
What will happen at the funeral?
In 2024, Pope Francis simplified the rite of burial for the Roman pontiffs, which presents the rubrics for papal funerals.
According to the new rites, Francis will be buried in a single coffin, instead of the three used by the previous popes.
Different language will also be used: the duration of the funeral, the Pope will be called “Bishop of Rome”, “Pope”, “Pastor” or “Roman Pontifex”, with more great titles such as “Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church” now avoided.
Mirticeli Fellowiros, a historian of the Catholic Church and correspondent for the Vatican for the Brasil’s Globonews, told Al Jazeera that “the simplification of Francisco de los Funeranarios rituals is irrigated not only the inheritance, which was well known to the IDE Re -Reolutional.
“He always said that he did not feel comfortable with the idea that the Vatican was the last absolute monarchy in Europe,” Measureos said. “Therefore, from the beginning, he presented himself as ‘Bishop of Rome’, which for him was the most dignified title: he was bishop, pastor and Christian like any other.”
Explaining the changes, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, said the goal was to emphasize that the funeral of the Pope is “that of a pastor and disciple of Christ, and not of a powerful man of this world.”
Archbishop Ravelli added that it was Francisco himself who emphasized the need to “adapt certain rites, so that the celebration of the funeral of the Bishop of Rome could improve the faith of the Church in the risen Christ.”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista, the 91 -year -old Italian who is currently dean of the Cardinals College, presides over the funeral mass of the Pope.
It will lead those present in biblical prayers and readings, and will deliver the final recommendation and the validation, the Pope’s soul will enter to God.
The funeral will be carried out in a variety of different languages, which reflects the international nature of the Catholic Church and the various background of those present.
It is likely that, as is the case of most of this child’s masses in the Vatican, the main sentences will be said in Latin and Italian, with biblical readings in Italian, Spanish and English, and a series of shorter sentences in other languages such as Arabic, Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Arab.
What happens after the funeral?
After the funeral of Pope Francis, his coffin will be transferred to the Basilica or Santa María Mayor, a church that is outside the walls of the Vatican that was particularly fond of visiting.
Francis will be the first Pope to be buried there since the seventeenth century, and the first in 100 years to be buried outside the Vatican.
In his final testimony, launched on Monday, the Pope requested that his grave “on the ground; simple, without private ornamentation”, and specified that only the word should be his papal name in Latin: “Francisco”.
A smooth tombstone in a church that has alos of a Pope in centuries: it is an adequate final resting place for a man who will be remembered by many for his humility and independence.
“After his choice in 2013, the Pope appeared for the first time in public with simple white clothing, as a way to demonstrate his desire for a less ostentatious church,” said Christopher White, correspondent for the Vatican for the national Catolide, Al Jazeera.
“Then,” White added, “it is appropriate that the funeral rites have stripped, to ensure that in death he can sacrifice a last lesson of symbolism for a church that, waiting, continuously in a path to humility.”