Pope Francis will be buried like "any son of the Church."

RomeThe Pope who tried to revolutionize the Church by making mercy and humility the compass of his papacy, It will also go down in history to renew archaic rules that until now governed the funeral rites of the pontiffs. Francis will be buried in a single coffin instead of the usual three (of cypress, lead and oak) and the body will be exposed so that the faithful can pay their last respects no longer on a catafalque, but inside a simple coffin, which will be closed the day before the funeral.

These are some of the new features that Pope Francis, who died this Easter Monday at the age of 88 due to a stroke, introduced into thePontifical Ordo Exsequiarum Romani, the liturgical book that regulates the funeral of popes. The funeral will be held next Saturday at 10:00 a.m., but the faithful will be able to bid farewell to the pontiff starting this Wednesday in St. Peter's Basilica, where his body will be transferred.

This was decided by the cardinals present in Rome, gathered in the first of the congregations of cardinals that will organize the funeral, starting this Tuesday and until the start of the conclave. and prepare the ground for the election of the successor to the Argentine pontiffWith this first assembly, held in the Synod Hall and presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Givoanni Battista Re—who will also officiate at the funeral—the period of His Vacancy in the Church officially opens.

Although the figure of the camerlengo, the person who manages the Church in the absence of the Pope, remains, Francis eliminated the so-called apostolic chamber, a college of ecclesiastics who assisted the cardinal camerlengo during his vacancy. But what's new is that he modified the ritual to eliminate superficial elements that evoked the old ones. princes of the Church and arranged for his body to be laid to rest "like any son of the Church: with dignity, like any Christian, but not on pillows."

This desire of Francis has forced the Church to update its regulations, as Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of papal liturgical celebrations, explained to Vatican media, with the aim of "simplifying and adapting some rites" to "further emphasize that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is of this world." However, the three classic "stations" remain. The first, at the home of the deceased, in this case Santa Marta; the second, the vigil and funeral in St. Peter's Basilica; and, third, the burial, which, at Francis' express wish, will be outside the Vatican, in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in the center of Rome. "The tomb must be in the ground; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus", the pontiff wrote in his will published by the Vatican.

Open-air funeral

The Vatican released the first images of the pontiff on Monday since his death in the chapel of Santa Marta, the small Vatican hotel for religious figures where he lived since his election in 2013. Pope Francis rests in a wooden coffin covered in red velvet, wearing a purple chasuble and a white miter. Looking on are some of his closest collaborators, as well as many of the cardinals present in Rome who came to the small chapel to say a final, private farewell. before the faithful last Easter Sunday and gave theurbi et orbi, according to the Vatican, which expects half a million faithful to attend the funeral

Several heads of state and government and international leaders have also confirmed their attendance. Brazil's Lula Da Silva and Argentina's Javier Milei have also confirmed their attendance.

Although relations between the White House and the Holy See experienced an unprecedented clash during the magnate's first term, which all signs pointed to would be repeated in his second term as head of the American government, one of the first to speak out was US President Donald Trump, who announced his presence. "We look forward to being there!" he announced on his social media. It will be the first time he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, following their unprecedented confrontation in the Oval Office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, will not attend Francis' funeral. He has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague that would force Italian and Vatican authorities to arrest him if he set foot in Italy. Nor will Spanish President Pedro Sánchez. Vice President Montero will attend in his place.