The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, will take place on Saturday morning, said the Holy See in a statement on Tuesday.
The Mass will be held by the Dean of the Faculty of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, according to the statement, while the body of the Pontiff will be on public exhibition since Wednesday so that the mourners lend their respect.
The Pope’s funeral will attract the main political figures to Rome in a moment of growing geopolitical tensions.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Monday that he and the first lady Melania Trump will attend the funeral, embarking on the first foreign trip of his second term to honor the late spiritual leader. A day before his death, Francis with the American vice president JD Vance, a recently Catholic convert.
Among other world leaders, French president Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy are expected to be present at the ceremony.
On Tuesday, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Guo Jiakun, said the condolences of China for Francis’s death. Francis supervised a defrosting relations between the Holy See and Beijing, as well as the Vatican has been one of Taiwan’s strongest sponsors in Europe.
Francis had been hospitalized in mid -February with bronchitis, which progressed to Threating pneumonia, before leaving the hospital in March. The late Pontiff had a history of health problems, including respiratory problems.
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Posted on April 22, 2025