Pope Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday, April 26th, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.
The Argentine pontiff died on Monday at the age of 88 from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.
His funeral, which is expected to draw huge crowds, will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday in the square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Francis’s coffin—which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc—will then be taken inside the church and from there to the Rome basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.
The date was set by the first so-called “general congregation” of cardinals on Tuesday morning, which kicked off a centuries-old process that culminates in the election of a new pontiff within three weeks.
Earlier, the Vatican published the first images of the pontiff in his open coffin, ahead of its transfer to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., to lie in state.
