The death of a pope, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, propels the Holy Roman Church into “its most dramatic moment of flux”, said The New York Times.
For that very reason, the period between a pontiff’s death and the election of a successor is marked by a series of “carefully choreographed” rituals and moments of “pageantry”, designed to communicate order and continuity.
What happens when a pope dies?
The protocol had been “refined over centuries and hundreds of dead popes”, said Politico. Firstly, the death is confirmed by the camerlengo, a senior Vatican position currently held by Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell. While doctors will have made a medical confirmation of death, the camerlengo’s role is a ceremonial one, in which he calls out the pope’s name and receives no response.
The pontiff’s body, in a simple white cassock, is taken to his private chapel, where he is robed in red vestments and then placed in a zinc-lined wooden coffin with his symbols of office, the mitre and pallium, beside him, said The New York Times.
Then the camerlengo drafts a document authenticating the pope’s death, and the pontiff’s private papers are gathered, his apartments sealed off and his “fisherman’s ring”, used to seal papal documents, is defaced or destroyed with a ceremonial hammer.
What happens between the pope’s death and the funeral?
The pope’s death will automatically trigger a nine-day mourning period known as the Novendiale. Daily prayers and requiem masses will be held both in the Vatican and throughout the Catholic world.
Since the 13th century, the embalmed body of the deceased pope has been taken, in procession, to lie in state, on a raised pedestal, in St. Peter’s Basilica. However, in 2024, Pope Francis “decided to highlight humility over glorification”, and rewrote the protocol to do away with the raised platform, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a church historian, told The New York Times.
What is a papal funeral like?
The pope’s funeral would be usually be held in St. Peter’s Square between four and six days after his death, with “mourners packing into the Vatican for the service”, said Politico.
His face covered by a white silk veil, the pope is buried with a bag containing coins minted during his reign, and a canister with a “rogito”, or deed, summarising his life and papacy.
Until a successor is chosen, the Vatican will be in a transitional period called sede vacante (“vacant seat”), in which power is temporarily vested in the College of Cardinals – although any major decisions will be delayed until the next pope is installed.