Pope Francis Revises Papal Funeral Practices: A Move Towards Simplicity

Silencing the persistent voices of a possible reform to the Conclave's norms, instead, Pope Francis is revising the practice that governs the funerals of the pontiffs. He began to address this after the death of Pope Ratzinger, a year ago. What Bergoglio wants, evidently for his own funeral as well, is a funeral protocol lightened by many old conventions, for example, the one of keeping vigil over the body displayed in the basilica on a catafalque at night. For Ratzinger, it was allowed ('I did not want to interfere at all and said, proceed in total freedom') but in the future, the practice will fall into disuse. Pope Francis changes the funerals of the pontiffs: death guaranteed 'like for any other Christian'. Bergoglio wants that even for the popes, death is guaranteed 'with dignity, like for any other Christian', and not with a body laid on cushions exposed for days. In my opinion, the current ritual was too charged. And then the practice of holding two vigils seemed excessive. Let there be only one vigil and with the pope already in the coffin, as happens in all families. Francis discusses this with the Spanish journalist Javier Martin Brocal, author of an interview book 'El Sucesor' (Planeta). Some, at the time, criticized the night vigils that were organized in St. Peter's Basilica for the deceased Ratzinger, whose body had been displayed as it has always happened in the Church. 'It will be the last vigil done this way, with the corpse of the Pope displayed outside the coffin, on a catafalque. I spoke with the master of ceremonies and we eliminated this and many other things. I am revising the ritual so that the popes are veiled and buried like any child of the Church'. During the days of the vigil, the basilica closed at seven but the entrance of the faithful continued through a side door (as has always been done) so that people close to Benedict could pray throughout the night. 'There will no longer be a ceremony for the closing of the coffin. Everything will be done at the same moment. In my case, I must be taken to Santa Maria Maggiore. When the funeral is over, let them take me there. I have a lot of devotion to Santa Maria la Maggiore, already before being pope, always. There is already everything ready. Right after the sculpture of the Queen of Peace, there is a small enclosure, a door that faces a room they used to store chandeliers. I saw it and I thought: 'This is the place', and the burial place is already ready. They confirmed to me that it is already ready. I know that in ancient Rome, in that area - the Esquiline - slaves and the poor were buried. I did not know that! His devotion to that basilica began when he came to Rome as archbishop. 'I went there to pray, always, and once in that area, they wanted to scam me. It happened to me while I was on the road' he recounts in the book. In the last century, practically all the popes have modified the norms of the conclave: Pius X, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II. 'I have not yet reformed it; above all, because it seems to me a secondary thing. The mechanism has worked very well in the two conclaves I have participated in. There are things that perhaps would be worth changing, but I do not think they are urgent.'