Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber said in a statement.
The Pope’s death will follow a series of ceremonial events refined over centuries, eventually culminating in the election of a new pontiff.
The confirmation and mourning period
Tradition dictates that the Camerlengo [Farrell] calls out the Pope’s name to rouse him, though modern medical confirmation is also used.
After no response, the Pope’s signet ring is defaced or destroyed, signifying the end of his reign.
A nine-day mourning period known as the Novendiale now begins. The Pope’s body will be dressed in papal vestments and displayed in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
In line with Francis’s wishes for a simplified funeral, his body will lie in an open coffin rather than on a raised platform as tradition previously dictated.
Throughout this period, the Vatican enters a transitional state called sede vacante (while the seat is vacant), during which the College of Cardinals temporarily governs the Church, though no major decisions can be made.
The funeral and burial of Pope Francis
The funeral will likely take place between four and six days after the Pope’s death in St Peter’s Square.
It will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals.
Breaking with tradition, Pope Francis will not be buried in the Vatican Grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica, where nearly 100 previous popes are entombed.
Instead, as he specified in a 2023 interview, he will be buried in the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, making him the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican.
According to Politico, Francis also requested burial in a single coffin made of wood and zinc, rather than the traditional three nested coffins.
The coffin will likely contain a rogito – a document detailing his life and papacy – alongside coins minted during his reign.
The election of a new pope
Two to three weeks after the funeral, the College of Cardinals will convene in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave, the secretive process of electing a new pope.
Only cardinals under 80 years old – currently 138 of the 252 total – are eligible to vote. They are locked inside the Sistine Chapel and sworn to secrecy. Each writes the name of their chosen candidate on a ballot and places it in a chalice atop the altar.
A two-thirds majority is required to elect a new pope. If no candidate achieves this, further rounds of voting take place, up to four per day.
The ballots are burned after counting, with chemicals added to produce either black smoke (no decision) or white smoke (new pope elected) from the chapel chimney – a signal visible to the waiting world.
The conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013 took about 24 hours and five ballots, but historically, some have lasted much longer.
The new pontiff
Once a pope is chosen, a representative announces Habemus papam (We have a pope) from the main balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
The newly elected pope, having chosen a papal name, then appears to address the public for the first time.
While in theory any baptised Catholic man could become pope, in practice the position almost always goes to a cardinal.
Historically, most popes – 217 out of 266 – have been Italian, though Pope Francis broke tradition as the first pontiff from South America in 1,300 years.
The new pope will lead the world’s approximately 1.4 billion Catholics, wielding significant spiritual and diplomatic influence on the global stage.
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