The Vatican has announced that the funeral Mass for Pope Francis will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, presiding. Concelebrating the Eucharistic liturgy will be patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests from around the world.
Following the Mass, the late pontiff’s body will be taken to St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for burial, in accordance with his personal wishes. Pope Francis frequently visited the Marian basilica during his pontificate and expressed a lifelong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He requested not to be buried in the traditional papal tombs in the Vatican grottoes.
This funeral marks the beginning of the Novemdiales, a nine-day period of mourning in which daily Requiem Masses will be celebrated in his memory. A cardinal selected by Pope Francis prior to his death will preside over each of these liturgies.
On Monday evening, April 21, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, presided over the rite of the ascertainment of death and the placement of Pope Francis’ body into a coffin at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, his residence. Present were Cardinal Re, family members, and Vatican medical officials, who confirmed the pope died from a stroke, complicated by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse. His health had been severely compromised by pneumonia, bronchiectasis, hypertension, and Type II diabetes, according to Dr. Andrea Arcangeli of the Vatican’s health directorate.
On Wednesday morning, April 23, the pope’s coffin will be translated from Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica in a solemn procession, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The route will pass through Santa Marta Square, the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, and through the Arch of the Bells, entering the basilica through its central door. There, Cardinal Farrell will preside over a Liturgy of the Word, after which the faithful will be permitted to pay their final respects.
St. Peter’s Basilica will be open to mourners from Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. until midnight, on Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to midnight, and on Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The funeral Mass will follow the updated Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, the official Vatican rite for papal funerals, which Pope Francis himself revised in 2024. His body lies in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc, his face veiled in silk.
President Donald Trump, along with First Lady Melania Trump, is expected to attend the funeral, joined by other world leaders, religious dignitaries, and thousands of pilgrims.
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