The Swiss Guards and Franciscus: A Roman Catholic Priest-Saw. The Vatican’s Last Restriction on the Baptism of Pope Francis

The Swiss Guards, who have protected the pope for hundreds of years, are planning to kneel in prayer for the consecration of the host. There will be a sermon that discusses the life of the pope, though it won’t technically be a eulogy.

The Vatican says that because Pope Francis cared for the poor, a representative group “of poor and needy” will be on the steps leading to the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pay their last respects before his coffin is buried.

After he presided over his predecessor’s funeral, the pope worked with the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies to simplify the funeral rites for future pontiffs. Francis wrote in his 2024 autobiography that a pope should be buried “with dignity, but like any Christian, because the bishop of Rome is a pastor and a disciple, not a powerful man of this world.”

One notable change is that the pope’s body no longer needs to be placed in three coffins made of cypress, lead and oak — instead, Francis’ body was placed in a simple wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside. While lying in state, the coffin was placed not on an elevated bier, but facing the pews.

In his will, Francis asked for his tomb to be “in the ground; simple, without particular decoration, and with the sole inscription: Franciscus,” Latin for Francis. The Vatican says the tomb was made with marble from the Liguria region of Italy, the land of Francis’s grandparents.

Vatican News’ Youtube coverage of Francis’ funeral and mass procession: A tribute to St. Peter’s Basilica in memory of his 75th birthday

The Roman Catholic church will soon have a new pope. The conclave has to start within 15 to 20 days of the pope’s death, which will be between May 6 and May 11.

The service will largely be a conventional Catholic funeral, explains NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. And while it will predominantly be in Latin, the program lists prayers in other languages — Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Arabic — nodding to the global nature of the church.

On Saturday morning the funeral will begin with a procession, led by a priest carrying a cross, the New York Times reports. After the coffin has been set down in the square, a book of the Gospels will be placed on top of it.

The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be at the funeral, according to Russian media reports. Putin is under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in connection with alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Other world leaders that plan to be there include: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Union Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Francis’ funeral comes six days after Francis died of a stroke and heart failure at age 88, and after tens of thousands of people paid their respects as he lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.

The pope is expected to be buried in Rome after his funeral mass at St. Peter’s.

It’s not the only way Francis’ funeral is breaking with tradition: He used his authority to simplify burial rites for future popes and left specific instructions to pare down his own.

The ceremony can be viewed on the Vatican News’ YouTube channel. The Vatican says it will provide live coverage of the funeral and procession to St. Mary Majors, but will stop before the burial in the Basilica.

NBC, CBS, Paramount, ABC News and Disney+ are just some of the broadcasters who will be streaming and covering the funeral around the world.

The First Visit of Pope Giovanni Battista Re to the Basilica of St. Mary Major Basilica: A Gospel Story of Mary and the Virgin Mary

The College of Cardinals will meet in the coming weeks to choose the next pope, with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re presiding over the mass.

Legend has it that this fourth century church was built after the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to an aristocrat, Giovanni, and to Pope Liberius, requesting a house of worship in her honor.

“The intervention was, I would say, divine from Mary directly,” Makrickas said. During a meeting at his residence, the Pope asked Makrickas to make the necessary arrangements for his tomb at the basilica after he told the story of the Virgin Mary’s appearance. “He told me: ‘I am very I am so happy that Mary didn’t forget me.’ “

St. Mary Major basilica was visited by Pope Francis 126 times. There is a painting of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on cedar wood, which is why he went to there to pray. This icon was brought to Rome from the East in the fifth century, when Mary was declared the Mother of God at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Tradition says that the book of Acts in the New Testament was painted by St.luke the Evangelist, who wrote the narratives that became the “gospel” of his name.

Francis became an ally of the Virgin Mary in his papacy. He knelt before her every trip out of Rome, and visited her on his first day as pope. It was the first place he went after he was discharged from Gemelli hospital in March to convalesce from double pneumonia at the Vatican. He came back to pray there just days before he died.

The Salus Populi Romani is said to have saved Rome from a plague in the year 590, when Pope Gregory the Great organized a procession with her through the city streets.

During the coronavirus epidemic of 2020 Pope Francis invited her to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he alone prayed in the rain.

Francis asked for a simple resting place in his will. Pope Francis shuns much of the trappings of papacy, preferring simpler dress, no chauffeurs or even a small car, if he did have to be driven.

“Francis was trying to show people that we are all 888-609- 888-609- 888-609-,” says Giuseppe, who was visiting St. Mary Major with his wife and two children. The planet is for everyone, and the poor and rich should not be included in it.

Source: What it’s like in the church Pope Francis chose as his final resting place

The Basilica and the Esquiline Hill: The Historical Monument of Rome and Rome’s First Roman Colony, the “Storm Throat”

The basilica has stood the test of time. The area where it is housed has a large immigrant population in the city’s main train station. Historically however,  the area — the Esquiline Hill — was one of the seven ancient hills on which Rome was founded.