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The changes reflect Francis’ view of the pope as a pastor more than a powerful person, but the rites will still be on a grand scale.
April 25, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
Pope Francis understood optics. When his body was moved from the Vatican guesthouse where he lived and died to the Basilica of St. Peter’s on Wednesday, his vision of a simpler papacy had one of its most tangible visual moments.
It was unlike when Pope John Paul II died in 2005, and the procession that accompanied his body to the basilica began in the opulently decorated Sala Clementina. That procession was chronicled on live TV, and as with previous popes, it moved down majestic marble staircases, and through the vaulted loggias and frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace, reflecting centuries’ worth of papal power and wealth.
Pope Francis’ procession was also televised, but in his case it began with cardinals praying silently for a good 10 minutes. His body, nestled in an open coffin, was brought from the guesthouse — Francis had declined to live in the extravagant palace — to the basilica, a short walk under a bright blue sky, nature’s palette. Inside St. Peter’s, the coffin was placed low to the ground, not on a raised bier, for the throngs of people filing past to pay their last respects.
But a papal funeral is a papal funeral, and those present for the funeral Mass on Saturday, along with millions watching online or on TV around the world, will still observe a solemn moment involving sumptuous Catholic pageantry.
For one thing, the church has more cardinals than ever before, so the procession of cardinals accompanying the coffin will inevitably be longer. When John Paul died, 157 cardinals participated in the ceremony. There are currently 252 cardinals, though not all are expected to attend because of illness or age.
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