The funeral of Pope Francis will be held on Saturday at St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said on Tuesday, as a host of world leaders and royals including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and the Prince of Wales confirmed their attendance.
The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in the Vatican on Monday aged 88 after a stroke. He had been recovering from double pneumonia for which he was hospitalised for five weeks.
His death certificate, released by the Vatican, said the stroke caused a coma and “irreversible” heart failure.
A Vatican official recounted some of his last moments on Tuesday, saying his death came quickly and he did not suffer. Francis fell ill at about 5.30am on Monday and was attended to by his team of medics. He later fell into a coma and died at 7.35am.
The funeral mass will begin at 10am local time and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, in what is expected to be a solemn ceremony.
Photographs of Francis’ body, dressed in his vestments, holding a rosary and lying in an open coffin in the chapel of his home at Casa Santa Marta, were released by the Vatican on Tuesday.
His coffin will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning in a procession led by cardinals. He will remain there until 7pm on Friday, to allow the public to pay their respects. The basilica will remain open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday.
As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.
He specified that he wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
The cost of his burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which Francis transferred to the basilica, he wrote in his will.
Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, but Francis – loved by many Catholics for his humility – simplified rites for papal funerals last year.
The procession of his coffin from the Vatican to Esquilino, a journey of two or three miles through central Rome, would require the Vatican’s Swiss Guards.
Heads of state and government who have so far confirmed their attendance at the funeral include Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Javier Milei, the president of Francis’s native Argentina. Francis had a delicate relationship with politics in his home country, but Milei hailed his “goodness and wisdom”.
Macron said at a press conference during a visit to Réunion: “We will be present at the pope’s funeral, as is only right.”
Trump, who repeatedly clashed with Francis over immigration, said on Monday that he would be attending with his wife. “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Francis “prayed for peace in Ukraine”, will attend with his wife Olena Zelenska. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an international criminal court arrest warrant over his invasion of Ukraine, will not attend, the Kremlin said.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and António Costa, the president of the European Council, will both travel to Rome, officials said.
Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace said. Charles and Camilla visited the late pope during a state visit to Italy earlier this month.
Other royal guests include King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, with Felipe calling the 88-year-old pontiff “an enormous ethical beacon of our world, of our time”.
Traditional papal funerals involved three coffins, one made out of cypress wood, one of lead and one of elm, which were placed one inside the other before the body was placed inside and then buried beneath St Peter’s.
But Francis shunned these rituals when he approved the simplified rules in April 2024. People will still be able to see his body in the basilica, but his remains will be placed in one simple coffin made of wood and lined with zinc, and will not be raised on a platform.
Francis almost died twice in February during treatment for severe pneumonia at Gemelli hospital in Rome. He was discharged on 23 March and ordered by doctors to rest for at least two months. Although his work duties were vastly scaled back, he made several appearances in recent weeks, including a visit to St Peter’s Basilica to thank the restorers finishing work on the 17th-century tomb of Pope Urban VIII. On Easter Sunday, he entered St Peter’s Square in the popemobile before giving a blessing from the central balcony of the basilica.
The pontiff’s death is likely to exacerbate divisions within the curia, with conservatives seeking to wrest control of the church away from reformers. A conclave – the secretive process by which Francis’s successor will be chosen – should begin no fewer than 15 and no more than 20 days after the death of the pope.
