In an open casket the Pope is finally at peace

POPE Francis lay in peace in an open casket in a Vatican chapel yesterday as cardinals finalised preparations for a funeral expected to be one of the biggest television events in history.

- By Giles Sheldrick

Francis, 88 — the first Latin American and Jesuit to head the Roman Catholic Church — died on Easter Monday, less than a day after defying doctors’ orders to bless thousands of worshippers.

In a funeral service on Saturday, a mass will be held in front of 300,000 people in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square. Breaking with long-standing tradition, Francis will be laid to rest in a simple tomb in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore, one of his favourite churches.

It will be inscribed with Franciscus, the Latin name for Saint Francis of Assisi.

Prince William will attend the ceremony, which will be beamed around the world, on behalf of his father King Charles.

Charles met Francis in Rome with Queen Camilla on April 9 — their 20th wedding anniversary.

Yesterday, pictures showed Argentine-born Francis in an open casket as senior clergy performed the centuries-old Confirmation of the Death of the Pontiff ceremony.

Dressed in red liturgical vestments with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand, the Pope’s body was placed in the Chapel of the Domus Santa Marta.

The Vatican’s camerlengo (treasurer and financial secretary), Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, read the official declaration of death.

Destroyed

As tradition dictates, Cardinal Farrell, 77, broke the pontiff’s Fisherman’s Ring and destroyed dyes used to make the papal seal.

He then closed the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace and in Chapel of Santa Marta, where Francis lived. The Pope’s body will be transferred to St Peter’s Basilica today, to lie in state before his funeral, allowing mourners to pay their respects.