Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in front of St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican says.
The date was decided after cardinals met in Vatican City on Tuesday morning to discuss the funeral’s timing.
Ahead of the funeral, Pope Francis’s body will lie in an open casket in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday morning, where mourners will be able to pay their respects to the late pontiff.
Tributes have poured in from around the world after Pope Francis died on Easter Monday aged 88.
Pope Francis’s body currently lies in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his 12-year papacy.
His body will be transferred from Santa Marta to St Peter’s basilica in a procession starting at 09:00 local time on Wednesday, the Vatican said.
Ahead of the transfer, a moment of prayer will be led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is acting as the camerlengo – the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope.
Cardinal Farrell will then lead the procession to St Peter’s, starting from Saint Martha’s Square and ending in St Peter’s Square before entering the church through the central doors.
After entering the church, Cardinal Farrell will lead the Liturgy of the Word, before the church is opened to visitors to pay their respects.
Bucking tradition, there will be no private viewing for cardinals, at Pope Francis’s request. The Pope’s coffin will also not be raised on a pedestal.
The Holy See said the Pope’s funeral will take place in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, starting at 10:00 local time.
The service will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
Patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests from across the globe will take part.
By 08:30, archbishops and bishops will gather in the Constantine Wing, adjacent to the basilica, wearing liturgical clothes including simple white miter.
By the same time, priests will congregate in St Peter’s Square wearing red stole.
And by 09:00, patriarchs and cardinals will congregate in Saint Sebastian Chapel, in the basilica, wearing white damask miters.
The service will end with the final commendation and valediction, marking the beginning of nine days of mourning for the Pope, the Catholic news agency reported.
The pontiff’s body will then be taken inside the church before being transported to St Mary Major basilica in Rome for burial.
Pope Francis, who chose to scale back some of the funerary pomp and ceremony of his predecessors, requested that he be buried at St Mary Major rather than in the crypt of St Peter’s basilica – making him the first pope not to be buried in St Peter’s for more than a century.
He also requested to be buried in a single wooden casket, unlike his predecessors, who were buried in the traditional three nested coffins.
The funeral is expected to draw huge crowds from around the world.
Heads of state and royalty will travel to Italy for the event. Among those who have already announced their attendance are US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The funeral’s announcement came not long after official images of the Pope’s body were released by the Vatican, showing him lying in a wooden coffin dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand.
Following the funeral, a conclave of cardinals will convene to elect a successor. The dean of the College of Cardinals has 15 to 20 days to summon the cardinals to Rome once the Pope is buried. —BBC
