Pope Francis has revised the funeral rites that will be used when he dies, simplifying the rituals to emphasise his role as a mere bishop and allowing for burial outside the Vatican, in keeping with his wishes.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published details of the updated liturgical book, which Francis approved April 29 and which replaces the previous edition that was last published in 2000.
Francis turns 88 in December and, despite some health and mobility problems, appears in fine form.
While popes often tinker with the rules regulating the conclave that will elect their successor, a revision of the papal funeral rites became necessary after Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI died on December 31 2022.
The Vatican had to work out a funeral for a retired pope, and a few months later Francis revealed he was working with the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Ravelli, to overhaul the papal funeral rites to simplify them.
Monsignor Ravelli told L’Osservatore Romano that the new reform simplifies the funeral rites, including eliminating the requirement that the pope be placed on an elevated bier in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
Rather, he will be on view in a simple coffin, and the burial no longer requires the traditional three coffins of cyprus, lead and oak.
The simplification, he told the newspaper, is meant “to emphasise even more that the Roman Pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world”.
