The Catholic world is gripped with uncertainty as Pope Francis, 88, stays in vital situation in a Rome hospital due to a posh lung an infection and different critical illnesses.
On Monday, the Vatican mentioned Francis had woke up from a restful sleep and was responding to remedy. It mentioned that cardinals would collect in entrance of St. Peter’s on Monday night to steer a rosary for him.
Right here’s what we learn about his situation, and about how issues would go ought to he die.
Francis’ situation
Francis’ preliminary respiratory tract an infection has developed into pneumonia in each lungs, and different issues have emerged throughout his hospital keep. He had a respiratory disaster that has resulted in his having to obtain excessive flows of supplemental oxygen. On Sunday, the Vatican introduced that he was affected by “preliminary, delicate kidney failure,” which was “underneath management.” He’s being handled with varied medication, and his docs have mentioned that calibrating them has been a problem. A brand new medical replace can be issued on Monday night.
Given his age and historical past of lung illness, docs have been guarded about his prognosis.
Upon dying
Whereas Francis’ destiny remains to be unclear, what’s extra sure are the time-honored rituals that have been drafted and refined over the centuries to make sure secrecy and an orderly transition. The rigorously choreographed pageantry supplies order to a church in its most dramatic second of flux.
A pope’s dying is instantly confirmed by the pinnacle of the Vatican’s well being division and the cardinal chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, who turns into the Vatican’s de facto administrator. The pope’s physique is wearing a white cassock and delivered to the pope’s non-public chapel.
The cardinal chamberlain, camerlengo in Italian, is a place now held by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, a 77-year-old American of Irish origin. He and different officers, together with members of the pope’s household, congregate within the chapel for a ceremony. The physique is positioned in a coffin manufactured from wooden and lined with zinc. The pope is wearing purple, his miter and pallium positioned subsequent to him.
After the ceremony, the camerlengo drafts a doc authenticating the pope’s dying, affixing the physician’s report. He secures the pontiff’s non-public papers and seals his residences, which within the case of Francis are a big part of the second ground on the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican Metropolis guesthouse utilized by visiting cardinals, the place Francis has lived all through his papacy.
He additionally arranges for the destruction of the so-called fisherman’s ring, utilized by the pope to seal paperwork, with a ceremonial hammer, to forestall forgeries.
Paying respects
Francis has introduced an unpretentious fashion to the church — rejecting elaborate outfits and the ornate papal residences. His plans maintain that as much as the tip, scaling again among the funerary pomp and circumstance.
In rewriting the funeral rites in 2024, Francis simplified a number of components. For the reason that thirteenth century, the our bodies of popes have gone on public view, their embalmed our bodies positioned on a raised pedestal. When John Paul II died in 2005, his physique was first delivered to the Apostolic Palace inside hours for a personal viewing for cardinals, bishops and different members of the church hierarchy, in addition to distinguished Italian officers.
Francis has achieved away with that form of viewing. As an alternative, a public viewing will happen straight in St. Peter’s Basilica, the place 1000’s have thronged to pay respects to popes previously. However his physique will stay within the coffin, which won’t be on a raised pedestal. “Francis determined to spotlight humility over glorification,” mentioned Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a church historian.
The Faculty of Cardinals decides on the day and hour that the pope’s physique can be delivered to St. Peter’s Basilica, in a procession led by the camerlengo, and on when the viewing will begin.
The funeral
The funeral and burial of the pope should happen between 4 and 6 days after his dying, and funeral rites in varied church buildings in Rome will final 9 days.
Previous popes have been put in three nested coffins, considered one of cypress, considered one of zinc and considered one of elm. However as a part of Francis’ rule change, he decreed that he could be buried in a single coffin, manufactured from wooden and lined in zinc.
The coffin is closed the evening earlier than the funeral. The pope’s face is roofed by a white silk veil and he’s buried with a bag containing cash minted throughout his papacy and a canister with a “rogito,” or deed, briefly itemizing particulars of his life and papacy. The rogito is learn aloud earlier than the coffin is closed.
The brand new guidelines additionally enable for a pope to be buried in a church apart from St. Peter’s Basilica. Francis has requested to be buried as an alternative within the Basilica of St. Mary Main, a church expensive to him and one he typically visited to hope in entrance of an icon of the Virgin Mary.
The conclave
Inside 15 to twenty days of the pope’s dying, the dean of the Faculty of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, will summon the cardinals to Rome for what is named a conclave to elect Francis’ successor.
The interval between the dying of a pope and the election of a brand new one known as the sede vacante, or “the seat is vacant.” Throughout that point, the Faculty of Cardinals retains normal oversight of the church, however it’s barred from making any main selections.
When the cardinals meet, they collect within the Sistine Chapel. All cardinal electors should swear an oath of secrecy and vote by secret poll. Solely cardinals underneath age 80 are eligible to vote. A two-thirds majority is required to elect a brand new pope, and politicking is a part of the method.
Cardinals will not be allowed to go away the conclave besides in uncommon instances. The phrase conclave — from the Latin “with key” — refers back to the isolation imposed on them, which is supposed maintain the electoral course of from dragging on.
Throughout the conclave, the cardinals reside in Casa Santa Marta, which was constructed on John Paul II’s orders to exchange the improvised rooming preparations within the papal palace that had beforehand housed them.
The white smoke
The cardinals solid repeated votes till a two-thirds majority emerges. After each vote, smoke is launched by way of a chimney that may be seen from St. Peter’s Sq., the place crowds usually kind to observe and wait. If a vote ends and not using a two-thirds majority, the smoke is black.
When a call is reached, the smoke is white.
Contained in the Vatican, the dean of the faculty asks the chosen successor whether or not he accepts the job. After getting the presumed sure, the dean asks him for the identify he needs to be known as as pope.
Within the vestry of the chapel, the brand new pontiff is wearing a white cassock. After greeting the cardinals, he proceeds to a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the place a senior cardinal proclaims, in Latin, “Habemus papam” or “We’ve a pope.”
