When Pope Francis dies, he will be laid out in a coffin, not on a catafalque, “with dignity, but like any other Christian.” There will be one vigil and not two, and no ceremony for the closing of the coffin. Pope Francis has much simplified the funeral rite, according to what he says in the book-interview El sucesor by Javier Martinez-Brocal, Vatican correspondent for the Spanish daily ABC (Planeta editions). The title refers to the “succession” of Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus who resigned in 2013 but was alive during the first nine years of Bergoglio’s pontificate. The book will be out on April 3rd.
These revelations come on the heels of the autobiography Life, My Story in History, written with Mediaset Vatican specialist Fabio Marchese Ragona, released on March 19. Recalling Benedict XVI’s funeral, Francis says, “That will be the last wake celebrated like this, with the Pope’s body exposed outside the coffin, on a catafalque. I spoke with the master of ceremonies and we eliminated this and many other things.” He adds that, “the current ritual was too overloaded.”
In the book, in another stark departure from tradition, Pope Francis also confirms that he made arrangements to be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The pontiff explains that behind the statue of the Queen of Peace in the basilica “there is a room where they kept the candelabra…That is the place…they confirmed to me that everything is ready” for his future burial.
Seven other Popes were buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, but in remote times: Onorius III (1216-1227), Nicolas IV (1288-1292), Pius V (1566-1572), Sistus V (1585-1590), Clement XIII (1758-1769), Paulus V (1605-1621) and Clement IX (1667-1669). Over 90 were buried in Saint Peter and in the Vatican Grottoes under the basilica within the Vatican walls.
The Pope says that Santa Maria Maggiore, situated between the Esquilino and the Viminale hills in the center of Rome, has been dear to him since before he became Pope, and that he often went to pray there. He then tells an anecdote: once a man there tried to swindle him by trying to sell him a watch. “By instinct” Francis said he had no money, and later “they told me that if I had pulled out my wallet, he would have slapped me and taken it away. Incredible.”
