World leader from Trump to Zelensky to take part in Pope’s funeral

The funeral of the Pope Francis will take place on Saturday at St. Peter’s Square. The Vatican has confirmed. Hundreds of thousands are expected.

The head of the Catholic Church died of a stroke on Monday at the age of 88, less than 24 hours after the guidance of an Easter speech. He had recently struggled against double pneumonia.

A large number of leaders and royals in the world – including Sir Keir Starrer, Donald Trump, the Prince of Wales, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from Brazil, who confirmed the largest Catholic population in the world – have confirmed their participation.

Thousands of mourners have already come into the city of the Vatican, have flowers, crosses and candles and recite prayers.

On Tuesday, the Vatican published further details of the Pope’s last 24 hours.

Francis, who had recently spent five weeks in the hospital, was a little worried about appearing on the balcony on Sunday.

“Do you think I can?” The Pope asked his personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti.

Strappetti calmed him down and moments later the Pope appeared on the balcony and blessed the crowd that gathered on the St. Peter’s Square below.

The next morning around 5:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. GMT), Francis felt uncomfortable. An hour later he waved Strappetti before slipping into a coma.

“Those who were nearby in these moments say that he did not suffer,” said the Vatican in an explanation. “It was a discreet death.”

On Wednesday morning, Pope Francis’ body is recorded in a procession of cardinals from the Santa Marta chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he will remain in an open coffin by Friday to enable the mourners to show their respect.

Shortly before the procession, a moment of prayer is conducted by Camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who leads the Vatican after the Pope’s death.

The Vatican has published photos of the Pope’s body, which is dressed in the chapel in the Casa Santa Marta – his residence during his 12 -year papacy – dressed in a red robe with the papal vibrator on his head and a rosary in his hand.

The general public can visit the St. Peter Basilica on Wednesday from 7:00 a.m. to midnight on Thursday and Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

When Pope Francis requested, there will be no private inspection for cardinals. The Pope’s coffin is also not raised on a base.

The funeral begins at 10:00 a.m. on the square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests from all over the world will take part. The Dean of the College of Cardinale, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, will lead the service.

Cardinal Battista Re will provide the final commission and validion – a final prayer in which the Pope is officially entrusted to God – and the body of the Pope is laid for the funeral in St. Mary Major.

A nine -day mourning period known as a novelism then begins.

Huge crowds are expected on Saturday, with up to 250,000 people participating in the funeral.

Many state and royals have confirmed their participation. Including Prince William, US President Donald Trump, Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia and the French President Emmanuel Macron.

Other political personalities who have announced them will participate:

• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Polish President Andrzej Duda
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
• Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, Francis’ Heimatland
• British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starrer
• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Pope Francis, who confessed part of the pomp of the papacy during his life, will continue to break with the tradition of death.

Historically speaking, popes are buried in triple coffins in marble graves in St. Peter’s Basilica in the heart of the Vatican. Pope Francis asked that he was instead buried in Rome’s basilica by St. Mary Major.

He has been the first Pope for more than 100 years to rest outside the Vatican.

In his last testament, Pope Francis also asked “in the earth, simply, without certain decoration”, and with the inscription only of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.

His body was moved to Santa Marta Chapel on Monday evening and his apartment formally sealed, the Vatican said.

After the funeral, a complain of cardinals is convened to choose a successor.

The Dean of the College of Cardinale has 15 to 20 days to summon the cardinals to Rome as soon as the Pope is buried.

Several names have already been driven out as potential successors, although more of which occurred in the coming days.