(NewsNation) — Pope Francis‘ funeral will take place Saturday, the Vatican has announced.
The service will be held at 4 a.m. EDT in St. Peter’s Square on April 26.
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President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend, and Argentine President Javier Milei‘s attendance is expected. Vice President JD Vance will not be there, a White House official told NewsNation.
Pope Francis’ funeral: What will be different?
Francis’ funeral proceedings and final resting place are expected to be simpler than most other popes’.
His 2024 changes to the burial rites for pontiffs paved the way for his more humble funeral and particular burial site, the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major. Located outside the Vatican, the basilica is home to Francis’ favorite icon of the Virgin Mary.
Francis’ casket will be in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Wednesday, allowing followers from around the globe to pay their respects in person.
The first images of Francis’ body were released Tuesday, showing him in the wooden casket, in red vestments and his bishop’s miter, with the Vatican secretary of state praying over him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel, where he lived and died.
Typically, popes have three coffins — made of cypress wood, lead and elm — that are ultimately stacked together and buried in the Vatican grottoes beneath St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis, under the renewed rite, opted to be buried in just one coffin: a wooden casket lined with zinc.
Francis’ singular coffin will not be placed on an elevated bier, as is custom, once he arrives at St. Peter’s. His coffin, instead, will simply face basilica’s pews.
How and when did Pope Francis die?
Francis, the 266th head of the Catholic Church, died Monday, one day after Easter and nearly a month since his release from the hospital.
His cause of death was a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure, according to the Vatican.
Francis was hospitalized in February, staying five weeks with double pneumonia that required high flows of oxygen and blood transfusions.
Who will be the next pope? What is a conclave?
The pope’s death will set off the formal process to select his successor, known as a conclave.
The word conclave is derived from the Latin words “com,” meaning “with,” and “clavis,” meaning “key.”
It refers to the practice of Catholic cardinals gathering in a closed room or hall to vote on who should be the next pope. Per the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the conclave usually occurs around 15 to 20 days following the death or resignation of a pope.
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A cleaner mops between pews as a picture of Pope Francis is displayed inside Church of the Little Flower on April 21 in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) -
Pope Francis appears on the central lodge of St. Peter’s Basilica to bestow the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for “to the city and to the world”) blessing at the end of the Easter Mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) -
A nun attends a Rosary prayer for Pope Francis, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 10. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) -
Christian rosaries and light candles are placed at the statue of Pope John Paul II, outside the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope Francis is being treated for pneumonia in Rome on March 10. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) -
A message for Pope Francis is seen in front of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome on March 15. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are allowed to participate in the secretive, anonymous conclave vote.
There are several frontrunners — or “papabile” — including Cardinals Peter Erdo, Reinhard Marx, Luis Tagle, Marc Ouellet and Robert Sarah, among others.
NewsNation’s Ashley N. Soriano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
