Vatican City โ Pope Francisโs funeral will be held in the Vatican on Saturday at 10am local time (8:00 GMT), with hundreds of thousands of guests and mourners expected to attend the late pontiffโs final ceremonies.
US President Donald Trump and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be among the dozens of dignitaries travelling to the Vatican for the ceremony, which will be a simpler affair than previous papal funerals.
Last year, the Argentine pope amended the funeral rites to show that he was a โdisciple of Christโ rather than โa powerful man of this worldโ.
Who will be there?
As well as being a major religious event, papal funerals also have an important diplomatic dimension.
The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but he also leads the Holy See โ a sovereign juridical entity with a seat at the United Nations โ and the Vatican city-state. There are some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, concentrated above all in Europe, the Americas and increasingly in Africa.
For this reason, papal funerals tend to attract large numbers of political figures. When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, his funeral attracted some 70 presidents and prime ministers โ making it one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history.
Among those to have already confirmed their attendance for Francisโs funeral on Saturday are US President Trump, the UN chief Guterres, and Ukraineโs President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russiaโs President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend, according to the Kremlin, but there will be a delegation from China.
Alongside these political figures, there will be large numbers of Catholics and other well-wishers.
The Italian government said on Tuesday that it expected at least 200,000 foreigners to travel to Rome for the funeral. Although the Vatican is a sovereign state, it is located in the heart of the Italian capital, and Italy will help manage some elements of the logistics.
There is, however, some reason to think that the eventual turnout will be higher than the Italian governmentโs estimate โ the last funeral of a sitting pope, John Paul II, attracted some four million attendees.
That said, the number of mourners on Saturday might not quite reach that high. While both popes enjoyed high levels of popularity, John Paul had served for 26 years, compared to Francisโs 12. Moreover, John Paulโs native Poland โ where he had a huge number of admirers โ was close enough to Italy to facilitate large-scale travel.
What will happen at the funeral?
In 2024, Pope Francis simplified the Rite of Burial for Roman Pontiffs, which lays out the rubrics for papal funerals.
According to the new rites, Francis will be buried in a single coffin, rather than the three used by previous popes.
Different language will be used, too โ during the funeral, the pope will be called โBishop of Romeโ, โPopeโ, โPastorโ, or โRoman Pontifexโ, with grander titles such as โSupreme Pontiff of the Universal Churchโ now avoided.
Mirticeli Medeiros, a Catholic Church historian and Vatican correspondent for Brazilโs GloboNews, told Al Jazeera that โFrancisโs simplification of the funeral rituals reflects not only his humility, which was well known, but also his revolution of the institution of the papacyโ.
โHe always said that he did not feel comfortable with the idea that the Vatican was the last absolute monarchy of Europe,โ Medeiros said. โThat is why, from the very beginning, he presented himself as โBishop of Romeโ, which for him was the most dignified title โ he was a bishop, a pastor and a Christian like any other.โ
Explaining the changes, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, said that the aim was to highlight that the popeโs funeral is โthat of a shepherd and disciple of Christ, and not of a powerful man of this worldโ.
Archbishop Ravelli added that it was Francis himself who had stressed the need to โadapt certain rites, so that the celebration of the funeral of the Bishop of Rome might better express the Churchโs faith in the risen Christโ.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old Italian who is currently dean of the College of Cardinals, is expected to preside over the popeโs funeral mass.
He will lead those present in prayers and Bible readings, and will deliver the final commendation and valediction, entrusting the popeโs soul to God.
The funeral will be held in a variety of different languages, reflecting the Catholic Churchโs international nature and the varied backgrounds of those present.
It is likely that โ as is the case for most masses of this kind at the Vatican โ the main prayers will be said in Latin and Italian, with Bible readings in Italian, Spanish, and English, and a number of shorter prayers in other languages such as Arabic, Polish, and Chinese.
What happens after the funeral?
After Pope Francisโs funeral, his coffin will be transferred to the Basilica of St Mary Major, a church lying outside the Vaticanโs walls that he was particularly fond of visiting.
Francis will be the first pope to be buried there since the 1600s, and the first in over 100 years to be buried outside the Vatican.
In his final testament, released on Monday, the pope asked that his tomb be โin the ground; simple, without particular ornamentationโ, and specified that the only word should be his papal name in Latin: โFranciscus.โ
A plain gravestone in a church that hasnโt held a popeโs remains in centuries โ itโs a fitting final resting place for a man who will be remembered by many for his humility and his independence.
โAfter his election in 2013, the pope first appeared in public wearing simple white vestments, as a way to demonstrate his desire for a less ostentatious churchโ, Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, told Al Jazeera.
โSo,โ White added, โit is fitting that he has stripped down the funeral rites, to ensure that in death he can offer one final lesson in symbolism for a church which, he hopes, will continue on a path toward humility.โ
