Posthumous Interment Site: Not the Vatican but the Major Basilica
Public Mourning Also Held with the Coffin Present
Pope Francis (87), who has personally practiced a frugal and simple life, has significantly simplified the papal funeral rites.
On the 20th (local time), the Vatican announced revisions to the papal funeral liturgy reflecting these changes. According to the revisions, the number of coffins used to enshrine the pope's body has been reduced from three to one. Historically, the bodies of previous popes were sealed in three layers. First, the cypress coffin used during the funeral Mass was placed inside a zinc coffin, which was then placed inside an oak coffin. However, Pope Francis chose a simple wooden coffin lined only with zinc inside, instead of the traditional triple coffin.
The confirmation of the pope's death will take place not in the room where he passed away but in his private chapel, and the pope's body will be immediately placed in the coffin. Additionally, public condolences will be offered while the pope's body remains in the coffin. In contrast, former Pope Benedict XVI's body was not placed in a coffin but was laid at an angle on a bier at waist height during the public viewing.
Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, explained, "Through the new funeral regulations, the pope wanted to show that the papal funeral is the funeral of Christ's pastor and disciple, not a worldly ruler."
Pope Francis, who ascended to the papacy in 2013, has previously expressed his wish that his funeral be "dignified yet simplified like that of all Christians." Since his election, he has lived not in the Apostolic Palace where previous popes resided but in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a guesthouse for Vatican priests. He also wears an inexpensive Casio watch and favors the Italian national car Fiat, rejecting authoritarianism and a sense of privilege.
In accordance with his wishes, the pope has also revised regulations to allow for burial outside the Vatican in an external church after his death. Pope Francis has expressed multiple times his desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four major basilicas of Rome and is the first church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Before and after his pastoral visits abroad, Pope Francis regularly visits this basilica to pray to the Virgin Mary.
Meanwhile, among the 265 previous popes, 148 have been buried in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It is known that past popes preferred St. Peter's Basilica as their burial site to be close to Saint Peter, one of Jesus' twelve apostles and the first pope who founded the Church. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Francis wishes to be buried, is the resting place of five former popes: Pius V, Sixtus V, Clement XIII, Paul V, and Clement IX.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
