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Pope Francis’ dying on Monday units in movement weeks-long sequence of occasions, from a interval of mourning to the method of choosing his successor.
The Vatican has an intricate algorithm governing the papal transition, a course of the world does not get to observe unfold fairly often.
Pope Francis was chosen for the job in March 2013, a number of weeks after Pope Benedict XVI resigned from his submit — a uncommon transfer that he blamed on his superior age and diminishing energy. He died at age 95 in December 2022.
The latest pope to die in workplace was the earlier pontiff, Pope John Paul II. He died in April 2005 at age 84, after 26 years within the papacy.
This is what occurred after:
1. The pope’s dying is confirmed
The pope’s dying is meant to be instantly verified and communicated to related events, as Father Thomas Reese, then-editor in chief of America, informed NPR in 2005.
The prefect of the papal family tells the camerlengo — in 2025, that is Cardinal Kevin Farrell — who should confirm the pope’s dying within the presence of the papal grasp of ceremonies, the cleric prelates of the Apostolic Digital camera and the secretary of the Apostolic Digital camera, who attracts up a dying certificates.
Then the camerlengo and prefect of the papal family move the information to varied officers within the Vatican, who relay it to the individuals of Rome and the heads of countries.
“Though that is the formal process, actually most individuals will first hear of the dying of the pope from the media,” Reese stated.
John Paul II died at 9:37 p.m. on April 2, 2005 — six days after Easter. The Vatican Press Workplace knowledgeable journalists of his dying by way of e mail precisely 17 minutes later.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista introduced the pope’s dying to tens of 1000’s of people that had gathered for a vigil in St. Peter’s Sq. in Vatican Metropolis. The gang grew silent, and a few individuals clapped in tribute.
2. The papal residences are locked
The camerlengo locks and seals the pope’s condominium.
Whereas looting (“by employees, the cardinals or the Roman populace”) was a priority prior to now, fashionable popes are extra involved that their personal papers keep out of the unsuitable arms.
The camerlengo destroys the pope’s fisherman’s ring and seal — historically with a particular hammer, per Britannica — to represent the tip of his reign and forestall misuse, like forging paperwork.
John Paul II’s ring and seal have been destroyed in a symbolic ritual on April 16, 2005 — on the finish of the nine-day mourning interval and earlier than the beginning of the conclave.
3. The mourning interval lasts 9 days
A pope’s dying is adopted by a nine-day mourning interval known as the novemdiales. The cardinals organize for the funeral rites to be noticed throughout this time.
That is additionally when a pope lies in state. Roughly 1 million mourners visited John Paul II’s physique because it lay in state — first within the Apostolic Palace for employees after which St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing — for a number of days earlier than his funeral on April 8.
In accordance with Reese, the date for the funeral and burial is about by the Faculty of Cardinals, however the apostolic structure states it’s to “happen, aside from particular causes, between the fourth and sixth day after dying.”
Francis wrote in his 2025 autobiography that he discovered the customary service “extreme.”
“So I’ve organized with the grasp of ceremonies to lighten it: no catafalque, no ceremony for the closure of the casket, nor the deposition of the cypress casket right into a second of lead and a 3rd of oak,” he wrote.
4. Burial happens inside 4 to 5 days
The camerlengo is tasked with arranging the funeral in accordance with directions the pope leaves behind.
John Paul II’s funeral befell six days after his dying in Saint Peter’s Sq., at 10 a.m. native time on April 8.
The three-hour ceremony was performed by the dean of the Sacred Faculty of Cardinals, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, with assist from some 164 cardinals.
About 2 million individuals watched on-line, and the lengthy record of dignitaries who attended in individual included 4 kings, 5 queens and at the very least 70 presidents and prime ministers, in response to DemocracyNow.
John Paul II was buried instantly afterward within the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica within the Vatican. Pope Francis wrote in his memoir that he has a distinct last resting place in thoughts”
“When it occurs, I can’t be buried in Saint Peter’s however at Santa Maria Maggiore,” he wrote, referring to one of many 4 Papal Basilicas in Rome. “The Vatican is the house of my final service, not my everlasting house.”
5. The conclave choses the following pope
The camerlengo is the performing head of the Vatican till the following pope is chosen and organizes the election course of, which is named the conclave.
All cardinals beneath 80 years of age when the pope dies have the best to vote for the following pope — 115 of them voted in 2005. The method entails a number of rounds of voting over a number of days.
The conclave historically begins 15 to twenty days after the pope’s dying (the Faculty of Cardinals units the date and time). The entire conclaves for the reason that 1900s have lasted lower than 4 days — the final conclave to run greater than 5 days was in 1831, and it lasted for 54.
The election takes place within the Sistine Chapel and is totally secret. However the public can watch the chimney for hints — black smoke means the cardinals might want to vote once more; white smoke means a brand new pope has been chosen.
In 2005, the conclave started on the afternoon of April 18 — 16 days after the pope’s dying, and 10 days after his funeral. It lasted simply two days, ending on April 19 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected after simply 4 ballots.
After the vote, the profitable candidate is requested two questions: Do they settle for their election, and what identify will they selected? Then official paperwork are stuffed out, the brand new pope is fitted with papal apparel — there are usually three units of clothes on the prepared — and the information is introduced to the general public.
The senior cardinal deacon seems on the balcony over St. Peter’s Sq. and pronounces “Habemus Papam!” — “We have now a pope!”
Ratzinger was introduced as Pope Benedict XVI on April 19 and put in as pope with Mass on April 24. He made his first overseas journey, to his native Germany, in August of that yr.
