Francis appeared in public for the first time as pope, at St. Peter's Basilica balcony, 13 March 2013.
Bergoglio was elected pope on 13 March 2013, the second day of the 2013 papal conclave, after which he took the papal name Francis. Vatican City — On Thursday morning, the queue to see the Pope, who is in an open coffin, stretched out of St Peter's Square and down the street - the longest the line had become since his body was moved to lie in state on Wednesday.
Entry to the church in Vatican City had been due to stop at midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but opening hours were extended to accommodate large crowds.
The pontiff died on Monday at the age of 88 after suffering a stroke. He had spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year with double pneumonia.
So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter's Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning.
The basilica closed from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m., the planned opening time and, according to French news agency AFP, thousands lined up early Thursday to pay their respects.
About 90,000 people have visited St. Peter’s Basilica to pay homage to Pope Francis as of Thursday Morning April 24, 2025
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first Latin American, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
This was a significant appointment because of the sometimes tense relations between the Society of Jesus and the Holy See. As a Jesuit pope, Francis made clear that a fundamental task of the faithful is not so much to follow rules but to discern what God is calling them to do. He altered the culture of the clergy, steering away from what he named "clericalism" (which dwells on priestly status and authority) and toward an ethic of service (Francis says the church's shepherds must have the "smell of the sheep", always staying close to the People of God).
Taking the Pope to Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome, Italy to his final resting spot - (Last Picture)
The Popes Funeral - (Above)
Pope Francis' tomb was made of marble with the inscription "Franciscus" and is located in a niche in the aisle between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel of the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
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Pope Francis will be the first pontiff in more than a century to be buried outside the Vatican Grottoes. After his funeral on Saturday, he will be laid to rest in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which stands sentinel across the city in the Esquilino district.
The decision by Pope Francis to do this, Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas told NPR, was the result of "divine intervention."
Legend has it that this fourth century church was built after the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to an aristocrat, Giovanni, and to Pope Liberius, requesting a house of worship in her honor.
Pope Francis told Mackrikas, who is the coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, that the Virgin Mary appeared before him, requesting that he be laid to rest in her church.
What happens after a Pope’s death
Confirmation of death
It is traditionally the job of the camerlengo (a senior Vatican official) to confirm the death of a pope. Currently, that position is held by Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who announced the news of Francis’ death on Monday morning.
“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,” he said.
If everything went as tradition demands, Farrell will have visited Pope Francis’ body in his private chapel and called out his name to rouse him. Nowadays this is largely ceremonial, as doctors will have confirmed the pontiff’s death through more standard medical means. (An oft-repeated myth holds that the camerlengo also gently taps the pope’s head with a silver hammer; the Vatican has long denied this.)
After the pontiff fails to respond, according to tradition, his signet ring, which acts as the seal for official papal documents, is defaced or destroyed, signifying the end of his reign, and the papal apartments are sealed off. The camerlengo informs the College of Cardinals, a governing body of senior church officials, that the pope has died, before his death is announced to the world.
The mourning period
The pope’s death triggers nine days of mourning known as the Novendiale, originally an Ancient Roman custom. Italy also typically declares a period of national mourning.
His body is 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.
Historically, popes were often embalmed and some had their organs removed prior to burial — a church near the Trevi Fountain in Rome holds the hearts of more than 20 popes in marble urns, preserved as holy relics — but these practices have fallen out of favor.
As Pope Francis lies in state, daily prayer services and Requiem Masses will be held at St. Peter’s Basilica and throughout the Catholic world.
Meanwhile, the Vatican will enter a transitional period called sede vacante, meaning “while the seat is vacant,” during which the rule of the church is temporarily handed over to the College of Cardinals — though no major decisions can be made until a new pope is elected. Meanwhile, the Vatican will enter a transitional period called sede vacante, meaning “while the seat is vacant,” during which the rule of the church is temporarily handed over to the College of Cardinals — though no major decisions can be made until a new pope is elected.
The burial
The pope’s funeral will most likely be held in St. Peter’s Square between four and six days after his death, with mourners packing into the Vatican for the service. It will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, currently 91-year-old Italian Giovanni Battista Re.
Traditionally, the pope is then buried in the Vatican Grottoes, the crypts beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. Almost 100 popes are entombed there, including Pope Benedict XVI, Francis’ predecessor, who resigned in 2013 and died in 2022.
But Francis said in an interview in 2023 that he had picked the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, one of his favorite and most-frequented churches, as his final resting place, making him the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican.
Past popes were entombed in three coffins: one made out of cypress, one of zinc and one of elm, nested inside each other, but Francis has ordered that he be buried in a single coffin, made of wood and zinc.
When Benedict XVI was buried, his coffin also contained coins minted during his reign, as well as a metal tube enclosing a rolled-up paper scroll, called a rogito — a 1,000-word document retelling his life and reign. Francis will likely be buried with his own rogito detailing his unique papacy.
The election
Two to three weeks after the pope’s funeral, the College of Cardinals will convene in the Sistine Chapel to hold a conclave, the highly secretive process of electing a new pope. In theory, any baptized male Roman Catholic is eligible for the papacy, but for the past 700 years, the pope has always been chosen from the College of Cardinals.
The vast majority of the 266 pontiffs elected throughout history have been European. Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, is the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.
Unlike in regular politics, candidates for pope do not openly campaign for the position. Vatican watchers have deemed cardinals who have a good shot at becoming pope papabile, meaning “popeable.”
On the day of voting, the Sistine Chapel, with its famed ceiling painted by Michelangelo, is physically sealed off and the cardinals, who have taken an oath of secrecy, are locked inside.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to cast ballots. Around 120 will vote in secret for their chosen candidate, writing their name on a ballot and placing it in a chalice atop the altar.
If no candidate receives the required two-thirds majority, another round of voting takes place. There can be up to four rounds per day. The conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013 took about 24 hours and five ballots, but the process can run longer; a conclave in the 13th century took about three years, while another in the 18th century took four months.
Once the ballots are counted, they are burned in a stove inside the Sistine Chapel, installed ahead of time by Vatican firefighters. A second stove burns a chemical sending up a smoke signal through a chimney to the outside world: Black smoke means a new pope has not been selected, white smoke means one has.
The new pope
Once a pope is chosen, a representative from the College of Cardinals reads out the Latin announcement Habemus papam, meaning “We have a pope,” from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking thousands of eager faithful.
Then the freshly elected pope, having chosen a papal name (most likely one honoring a saint or predecessor) and donned a white cassock, steps out onto the balcony to give his first address to the public. And with that, the Catholic world has a new leader.
Along with setting the church’s teachings and morals, the pope wields significant diplomatic and political power in world politics, acting as a mediator in global conflicts and guiding humanitarian efforts.
Most popes serve until the day they die. Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013, aged 85, because of declining health, was the first pontiff to step down in 600 years.
After Pope Francis’ funeral, 135 cardinals will gather for a conclave to elect a new pope. The traditions include oaths of secrecy, paper ballots and white smoke from a chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
The funeral for Pope Francis, who died on Monday, will follow a centuries-old tradition, with rituals spanning several days and a viewing of his body for mourners from around the world.
Immediately After the Pope’s Death
Inside the Vatican, the ritual begins when a doctor is summoned to certify the pontiff’s death, and write a report. The doctor then ensures that the body will be perfectly preserved for the viewing, and the pope’s body is dressed in a white cassock. Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, Latin for “Rite of Burial for the Roman Pontiff,” a book introduced by the Vatican last year that simplifies papal burials, allows for the confirmation of death to take place in a pontiff’s personal chapel rather than his bedroom.
The cardinal chamberlain, “camerlengo” in Italian, other Vatican officials and members of the pope’s family will congregate in the chapel for a ceremony. The body is placed in a coffin made of wood and lined with zinc. The pope will be dressed in red, with his miter and pallium, the traditional headdress worn by bishops and a strip of white wool worn like a collar, placed next to him.
The camerlengo arranges for the use of a ceremonial hammer to destroy the so-called fisherman’s ring, used by the pope to seal documents, to prevent forgeries. A new one will be forged when the next pope is elected.
The camerlengo then seals the door to the pope’s study and bedroom. The night before the funeral, the coffin will be closed and the pope’s face covered by a white silk veil. He will be buried with a bag containing coins minted by the Vatican during his papacy and a canister with a “rogito,” or deed, that briefly lists details of his life and papacy. The rogito is read aloud before the coffin is closed.
The Papal Funeral
All of the 252 cardinals across the world traditionally receive an invitation to travel to Rome after the pope’s death to attend the funeral and choose a new pontiff.
On the day chosen by the cardinals, the coffin will be brought in a procession to St. Peter’s Basilica.
The viewing inside the Basilica is expected to last a few days to allow the faithful to pay their respects.
The service, usually held between the fourth and the sixth day after the pope’s death, is marked by a public mass celebrated in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, and usually attended by world leaders and heads of state. The dean of the College of Cardinals, in this case, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, will preside over the mass.
The funeral begins with a procession led by a priest carrying a cross, followed by the coffin and ordained clergy. Once the coffin has been set down, a book of the Gospels will be placed on top of it. A funeral mass follows.
Previous popes were entombed in three coffins: the first made of wood, another of lead and a third, again of wood. But in 2024, Francis simplified the rules for a papal funeral, specifying that only one coffin, a wooden one lined in zinc, should be used. The seals of several Vatican officials are impressed on the coffin.
The camerlengo presides over the interment. Francis asked to be buried at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, instead of in St. Peter’s crypt, where some of his predecessors are buried.
Nine days of Masses will then be celebrated in churches in Rome.
Conclave
The Catholic church adopted new rules for the election of a pope in 1996, under Pope John Paul II, and the process has remained mostly unchanged since then. Following the death of the pope, the cardinals will hold a series of meetings called general congregations to discuss the needs and challenges facing the Church.
Fifteen to 20 days after the pope’s death, and sooner if all the voting cardinals are in Rome, they will gather for the conclave. Of 252 cardinals, only 135 are under 80 years old and therefore eligible to vote in the election of a new pope. The voting cardinals are housed in the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis had lived, and will cast their ballots in the Sistine Chapel, in the Apostolic Palace.
The cardinals cannot communicate with anyone outside until a pope has been elected. The priests, secretaries, cooks and doctors working on the sidelines of the election must take an oath of secrecy, and the Sistine Chapel will be swept for wire taps or recording equipment.
On the first day of the election, a special mass is held in the morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. In the afternoon, the cardinals go to the Sistine Chapel, where they take an oath of secrecy. After the last cardinal has taken his oath, the master of liturgical celebrations gives the order in Latin, “Extra omnes” — everyone out. Everyone not taking part in the conclave must leave.
The cardinals vote by secret ballot, saying a prayer and dropping the ballot, twice folded, into a receptacle. To become pope, a candidate must receive two-thirds of the vote. Only one ballot is held in the afternoon of the first day, then two ballots are held every morning and every afternoon until someone receives enough votes.
Until a pope is elected, twice a day, wisps of smoke emerge from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel as the ballots are burned. Black smoke means no pope has been elected; white smoke means that he has. (Chemicals are added to the ballots to get the right shade of smoke.)
Once the vote is concluded, the dean of the college, or Cardinal Re, will ask the chosen successor whether or not he accepts. If he does, the dean asks for the name he wishes to be called by as pope.
The new pope will dress in a white cassock, greet the cardinals and appear for the first time on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, where a senior cardinal proclaims, in Latin, “Habemus papam,” or “We have a pope.”
Also:
What Happens After the Pope Dies?