The funeral mass will be held in the Vatican Square of San Pedro, located before the homonymous basilica and where the Argentine Jesuit made his last public appearance last Sunday of Resurrection.
“I saw Easter Day that the Pope was tired. He gave everything until the end, until his last respite,” Cardinal Franco-Spanish François Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio, told AFP. “He left in the middle of his people,” he added.
The mortal remains of Jorge Mario Bergoglio rest for now in the chapel of the residence of Santa Martawhere he died on Monday at age 88 for a stroke almost a month after leaving a long hospitalization due to respiratory problems.
His body lies inside his coffin, Dressed with a red casulla and white miter, a rosary in his hands and escorted by two Swiss guards, According to the first official images taken on Monday and released on Tuesday.
According to the Italian press, the assistance of half a million faithful to the funeral is expected, together with heads of state from all over the world such as the Ukrainian Volodimir Zelenski. His Russian couple, Vladimir Putin, does not plan to attend.
One of The first to announce his trip to Rome was the American Donald Trump, Despite clashes with Francisco about migrants. “We are looking forward to being there!” The tycoon said on Monday, who will go with his wife Melania.
Among the announced assists are also the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron and the kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, as well as the prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, and Germany, Olaf Scholz, and the leaders of the main institutions of the European Union.
“Thank you for bringing me back”
Unlike its immediate predecessors, Francisco chose that the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor de Roma hosts its mortal remains for eternity in a “simple” grave, where the only inscription is “Franciscus”, its name as potato in Latin.
But before his burial on Saturday, The faithful may contemplate their wood and zinc coffin in the Vatican Basilica of San Pedro, where it will be transferred on Wednesday, April 23 from 9 am local from the Santa Marta residence.
Although his state of health was fragile since his hospitalization on February 14 by bronchitis that resulted in a bilateral pneumon, his death almost a month after being discussed shocked the Catholic Church.
Hours before, there was a bathroom of crowds on the occasion of the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing after consulting it with your personal nurse. “Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” he said, according to the official media Vatican News.
This Tuesday morning, hundreds of journalists from all over the world began arriving in the Vatican, where the police control access to the Plaza de San Pedro of tourists and faithful.
“It is very difficult to say what we feel because we have lost our father, our shepherd, a pastor who has managed to be a father for everyone, a father of mercy,” the Puerto Rican nun, Magda Martínez, 53, told AFP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdwyjnawjiy
“The last Pope”
His death in turn activated the countdown to choose his successor. The conclave to choose the new Supreme Pontiff must be held within between 15 and 20 days. More than two thirds of the 135 voters were appointed by Francisco.
The cardinals, headed by Camarlengo Kevin Farrell, celebrated on Tuesday their first general congregation to fix, mainly, the date of the funeral. The next one will take place on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, tributes to this “revolutionary” Pope happen in the world, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, which was implied without rest in the defense of migrants, the environment and social justice, with an austere and humble style.
“Thank you for making the world a better place. We are going to miss you,” the Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi wrote on his Instagram account.
“The last Pope,” several Italian newspapers titled on Tuesday, referring to their commitment to the most disadvantaged and the passage of the Bible: “the last ones will be the first in the kingdom of heaven.”
“He encouraged migrants a lot because he gave us his words of encouragement to all of us who left our countries,” Marisela Guerrero, a 45 -year -old Venezuelan who migrated to Chile a few months ago.
To read more: how would it have been the last minutes of Pope Francis before death
The “condolences” even came from China, which was said on Tuesday willing to “collaborate with the Vatican to promote the continuous improvement of relations.”
Although during his pontificate initiated in March 2013, he did not question the conservative positions of the Church on issues such as abortion or celibacy of the priests, his close style obfuscó to the conservative opposition for his supposed lack of orthodoxy.
In addition to popular fervor, the exarzobispo of Buenos Aires leaves a legacy marked by the fight against pedophilia in the Church, by the impulse to the role of women and laity and to advocate for the dialogue between religions, among others.