The official news of Pope Francis’s passing on Easter Monday morning came from Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church who was once archbishop of Washington, DC, the first of a sequence of pre-ordained events that will begin with the veneration of Pope Francis and end with the election of his successor.
Here is Cardinal Farrell on the death of Pope Francis:
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church.”
Before announcing the death to the world, Farrell had some very specific duties to carry out; after trying and failing to rouse the pope, Farrell will have overseen the destruction of the pope’s signet ring, which acted as the seal for official papal documents. Farrell will next give the official “ascertainment of death,” thus kicking off nine days of mourning known as the Novendiale.
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Pope Francis’s body is expected to be brought to the Vatican Basilica on Wednesday, where hundreds of thousands of mourners are expecting to pray over the pope’s body. Here’s more on that process:
His body will be blessed, dressed in papal vestments and exhibited in St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing, where hundreds of thousands will line up to pay their respects, including foreign dignitaries and world leaders. In the past, the pope’s corpse was displayed on a raised platform called a catafalque, but Francis’ simplified funeral rites will see him lying in an open coffin without so much pomp and pageantry.
While the public mourning takes place, the Vatican itself transitions to a period of sede vacante, a time during which the College of Cardinals oversees all official matters. Pope Francis’s funeral likely will be held in Saint Peter’s Square within the next four to six days, with burial expected to be at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, which is outside the walls of the Vatican. Francis is reported to have hand-picked this location.
It turns out the pope had pre-planned a lot of things, including the conclave that will assemble to pick his successor. Back in February, before his hospitalization for double pneumonia, Francis extended the term of his confidante, the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, as dean of the College of Cardinals. The pope did this despite the fact that the 91-year-old Re is himself too old to participate in the conclave; some reports indicate Francis wanted Re there to protect his legacy and, in a sign of the late pope’s globalist weird-think, to push back against the Trump administration if it tried to interfere with the papal succession.
“They’ve already influenced European politics, they’d have no problem influencing the conclave,” said one close observer of Vatican politics, referring to the Trump administration. “They might be looking for someone less confrontational.”
The papal conclave is expected to take place in the next two or three weeks when the College of Cardinals assembles in the Sistine Chapel for a secret vote. Only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote, and those participating will write the name of their chosen candidate on a slip of paper and place it in a chalice sitting on top of the altar. A candidate must get a two-thirds majority, so multiple rounds of voting could take place before the new pope is chosen. Once that happens, the infamous white smoke will billow from chapel chimney, signaling to the world: “Habemus Papam!” We have a new pope.
So, who is in the running to be the next pope? Is it time for an American pope, or should we look to Africa, where Catholicism is thriving? Our friend Ed Morrissey over Hot Air gives us some guidance:
The real question facing the cardinals will be whether to continue on Francis’ pastoral-reform path, or to tack back to the John Paul II/Benedict XVI focus on doctrinal discipline. Francis appointed about half of the current College of Cardinals, which will be an interesting factor to watch during the conclave. So too will be the increasing influence of African bishops, where martyrdom is real and literal at the moment, and where more conservative bishops and cardinals are emerging.
Names being bandied about include Cardinal Péter Erdő of Hungary, Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea (who’s a big favorite of conservative American Catholics), Cardinal Pietro Parolin of Italy (he met with Vice President Vance this past weekend) and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines (“the Asian Francis”).
RedState will, of course, bring you all the latest on the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor. Of note: the April 27 canonization Mass for Blessed Carlo Acutis, dubbed “the first Millennial saint,” has been temporarily postponed due to the death of Pope Francis.
