Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to be buried in single coffin. Funeral details here

Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, will be the first pontiff to be buried in just a single coffin. The Vatican is expected to announce the date and the funeral will likely be held within a week.  

The pontiff will be laid to rest in a coffin made of wood and lined in zinc, in contrast to the coffins of the past popes who were put in three nested coffins, one of cypress, one of zinc and one of elm. However, Pope France changed the rules by decreeing that he would be buried in a single coffin, according to The New York Times.

There are other changes as well. Pope Francis will be left in a plain, open casket during this viewing period, the second station of part of the funeral rites. The earlier practice was to place the body on top of a tall raised platform called a 'catafalque'. This practice ended in 2022 after the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis amended the practice to stress the pontiff's role as a pastor, not a head of state.

Other funeral details

The date of Pope Francis's funeral will likely be announced in a week. As per the tradition, the pontiff's funeral will be held in four to six days, likely in St. Peter’s Square. The funeral will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals and the position is currently being held by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a 91-year-old Italian priest.

The guest list too will be confirmed in the coming days and all of the 252 Catholic cardinals will be invited to attend. While dignitaries from all over the world will attend the ceremony, including US President Donald Trump, it is unclear whether there will be invitees from India.

The Pope will be laid to rest at the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore), a fifth-century church in Rome. He had earlier called it "his "great devotion" and expressed the desire to be buried there. The Pope had been an ardent devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the church is devoted, that he would visit it after every foreign trip. No pope has been buried in Santa Maria Maggiore since the 17th century. The last pope to be laid to rest there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.

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