- The presidents, the royalty, the pilgrims attend the funeral mass of Pope Francis.
- The funeral of Pope Francis breaks the tradition with burial outside the Vatican.
- Huge crowds meet for the funeral ceremony in the Plaza de San Pedro.
The presidents, the royalty and a multitude of simple mourners said goodbye to Pope Francis on Saturday at his funeral, where a cardinal said the legacy of the pontiff of caring for migrants, oppressed and the environment should not die with him.
On one side of Francis’s coffin in the vast San Pedro Square, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who faced the Pope on those issues.
On the other side, cardinals who must decide whether Francis’s successor must continue his impulse for a church or give up more open to conservatives who wish to return to a more traditional papacy.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis really shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral mass.
The Argentine Pope, who had reigned for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke.
The applause sounded at the beginning of the ceremony when 14 fault carriers with white gloves took the coffin, embedded with a large cross, from the Basilica of San Pedro and towards the square.
The air views of the Vatican showed a mosaic of colors: black of the dark attire of the world’s leaders, red of the clothes of about 250 cardinals, purple used by some of the 400 bishops and white used by 4,000 assistant priests.
The choirs sang hymns and Latin prayers were recited in several languages, including Italians, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arab, which reflect the global reach of the Roman Catholic Church of 1.4 billion members.
The faithful rushed to San Pedro from the first hours, while many camped to try to ensure points in the front of the crowd. The Vatican estimated that about 200,000 people had met at the beginning of the service.
“We want to say goodbye because he (he was a living saint, very humble and simple,” said Mary James, a Franciscan nun, who had waked up during the night to guarantee a good place.
Foreign dignatory
Francis’s death marked the beginning of a meticulously planned transition period, marked by the old ritual, pomp and duel. In the last three days, around 250,000 people appeared beyond their body, which was placed in an open coffin before the altar of the Cavernosa Basilica of the 16th century.
Before taking a seat, Trump and his wife, Melania, presented their respects to Francis’s coffin in the Basilica of San Pedro. The coffin was sealed Friday night.
Among the other heads of state that flew to Rome were the presidents of Argentina, France, Gabón, Germany, the Philippines and Poland, together with the prime ministers of Great Britain and New Zealand, and many members of the royalty, including the King and Queen of Spain.
Many people in the square applauded when the president of Ukraine appeared, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky met Trump while both were in Rome and had a “very productive discussion,” said a White House official. His meeting came at a time when Trump is pressing for an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
Tradition of rupture
Francis, the first non -European Pope for almost 13 centuries, fought to remodel the Roman Catholic Church, on the side of the poor and marginalized, while challenging rich nations to help migrants and reverse climate change.
“Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, a holy life and universal paternity,” said a formal summary of his papacy, written in Latin, and placed next to his body.
The traditionalists retreated their efforts to make the church more transparent, while their supplications of conflict, divisions and unbridled capitalism often fell into deaf ears.
The Pope rejected much of the pomp and privilege generally associated with the papacy. He brought that desire of greater simplicity at his funeral, having rewritten the elaborate funeral rites of books previously used.
Francis also chose to give up a centenary practice of burying potatoes in three intertwined coffins made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, it was placed in a single zinc lined wood coffin, which was sealed closed during the night.
In an additional break with the tradition, he will be the first Pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring the Basilica of Rome of St Mary Major, about 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) of San Pedro, as his final resting place.
His grave only has “Francisco”, his name in Latin, registered at the top. A simple and iron -plated crossing that used to use around its neck hangs on the marble slab.
The funeral caravan will take it through the city for the last time, allowing the Romans to say goodbye.
Italy set up one of the largest security operations that the country has seen since the funeral of John Paul II. He closed the airspace over the city and called additional security forces, with anti -aircraft missiles and patrol boats that protect the event.
As soon as Francis is buried, attention will change to whom it could happen.
It is unlikely that the secret conclave to choose a successor begins before May 6, and may not start for several days after that, giving time to the cardinals to hold regular meetings in advance to join and evaluate the state of the Church, harassed by financial problems and ideological divisions.
