The funeral service for Pope Francis is taking place Saturday morning at the Vatican, after which the late leader of the Catholic Church will be buried in Rome. While the ceremony will follow many traditions developed over centuries of church history, there will also be some details uniquely chosen by Pope Francis. Watch the ceremony live here on CBS News, and find answers to some of your questions about the historic event below.
Pope Francis’s funeral begins at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern, 1 a.m. Pacific) at the Vatican, outside St. Peter’s Basilica. The ceremony is presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
The funeral follows the Vatican’s liturgical book for papal funeral rites, called the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis. An updated edition of the ancient rites was approved by Pope Francis last year, changing some longstanding traditions for papal funerals, including the type of coffin used.
The papal funeral is broken down into three separate phases, or “stations” They are the preparation of the body, the viewing of the body, and then the burial.
Pope Francis’ funeral is being attended by thousands of members of the public, as well as religious leaders and heads of state from around the world.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will be attending, as will former President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.
The Vatican says there will be delegations from about 130 countries, including 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs in attendance, including:
Sen. Susan Collins is leading a bipartisan delegation of Catholic U.S. senators to attend the pope’s funeral.
At the end of the funeral service, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will deliver the final commendation prayer, and then a procession will take the pope’s coffin to the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) for burial.
In a break from tradition, Pope Francis has chosen to be buried outside the Vatican, in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, where he often went to pray during his papacy. Seven earlier popes are buried there, but he will be the first in centuries.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Many popes have been laid to rest inside the Vatican, in the Vatican grottoes, a system of vaults on the lower level of St. Peter’s Basilica — but in his last will and testament, Francis requested a church that had special meaning for him.
“I wish that my last earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary where I went for prayer at the beginning and end of each Apostolic journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and thank Her for her docile and maternal care,” Francis said in his will.
“The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus,” he wrote.
Burial rites will be led at the site by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
Among those that will be gathered for the arrival of the pope’s coffin at St. Mary Major are individuals from communities Pope Francis supported, including prisoners with special permission, homeless people, and victims and survivors of sex trafficking.
After the funeral, nine days of mourning will begin, called the Novemdiales.
Eligible cardinals under the age of 80 — currently a group of about 135 — will gather in Rome to prepare for the papal conclave, the centuries-old process to select the next pope. The conclave usually begins around two weeks after a pope’s death, so in this case, likely in early May.
During the conclave, eligible cardinals will isolate themselves and, behind closed doors in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, they will cast ballots for their choice, repeating the process until a candidate receives a two-thirds-plus-one majority. The ballots, which are paper, are burned after each round of voting.
If no choice has been reached, the ballots from that round send up black smoke from the chimney as they burn. When a new pope is finally selected, a cloud of white smoke is sent up to signal the momentous news to the world.
contributed to this report.
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