Pope Francis’ coffin was closed and sealed in St. Peter’s Basilica in a private ceremony on Friday evening after more than 250,000 people paid their final respects to the late pope over three days of public visitation.
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Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, presided over the rite of the closing and sealing of the coffin, which was attended by cardinals of the Roman Curia, the pope’s secretaries, and several of his relatives.
Priests of the Chapter of St. Peter, a group responsible for the liturgical and sacramental care of St. Peter’s Basilica, will keep vigil over the late pontiff’s coffin during the night of April 25 until the funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the morning of April 26.
The liturgy, which lasted one hour, began with the reading of the “rogito,” a two-page summary in Latin of Francis’ life and papacy.
The choir chanted the Canticle of Zachariah, there was a moment for silent prayer, and then Farrell read a prayer in Latin asking the Lord that Pope Francis’ face, “which scrutinized your ways to show them to the Church, now see your fatherly face.”
Following the prayer, Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Vatican’s lead master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, covered Pope Francis’ face in a white silk veil. Farrell sprinkled holy water on the late pontiff’s body, and then Ravelli placed inside the coffin a copy of the “rogito,” rolled up inside a metal cylinder and sealed, and a bag with the coins minted during Francis’ pontificate.
First the interior coffin of zinc was closed and sealed. A cross, Pope Francis’ coat of arms, and a plaque with his papal name, the length of his life — 88 years, four months, and four days — and the length of his pontificate — 12 years, one month, and eight days — was visible on the outside of the zinc coffin.
Then, the outer wooden coffin, which featured a cross and the coat of arms of Francis, was closed.
The rite concluded with the singing of psalms and antiphons, including the Marian antiphon for the Easter season, the Regina Caeli.
After the funeral Mass on April 26, Pope Francis’ remains will be brought from the Vatican through Rome to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he will be buried in another private ceremony.
This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
