Pope Francis is in a “critical” state according to the latest information from the Vatican. His concern worried and raises questions about his succession, the death of the sovereign pontiff leading to very protocol ceremonies.
Pope Francis is in a “critical” state. The Vatican has never been so worried about the health of the Sovereign Pontiff since his appointment in 2013 and despite repeated hospitalizations in 2023. The 88-year-old Holy Father presents several serious health problems and his state does not Do not seem to improve after ten days spent at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. “The next hours will be decisive,” warned Abee Donati, director of the anesthesia and resuscitation clinic of the University Hospital of Marche, in the columns of CORRIERE DELLASERA.
These hours will be decisive for the health of Pope Francis, but also for the whole Church. The sovereign pontiff directs the Church until his last breath, unless a renunciation like those of Benoît XVI in 2013 or Célestin V in 1294, and Pope Francis affirmed his desire to comply with tradition. But the octogenarian knows himself closer to the end of his pontificate and he would have taken certain measures to prepare his succession, which will have to respect a vast protocol. If some cardinals reflect on the next conclave, the subject of the Pope’s succession will only be treated after the death of the Holy Father and a period of mourning planned to honor it. “The pope is alive now and it’s time to pray, not to think about who will be his successor. And if there is someone who thinks of the future while Francesco is in the hospital, it n ‘is not good at all, “said Cardinal Gherard Ludwig Müller with Corriere della Serra.
A nine -day mourning after the pope’s death
On the death of each sovereign pontiff, a series of events is orchestrated by the Vatican. Pope Francis will not be an exception, he has already taken certain arrangements. The death of the Holy Father is traditionally formalized by Camerlingue, a high dignitary of the Vatican, in a symbolic ceremony from the private chapel of the Sovereign Pontiff. Camerlingue shouts the name of the church chief and, in the absence of a response, announces his death at the college of Cardinals who in turn published a press release to publicly confirm the death of the Pope to the whole world. If the ceremony is above all symbolic, death having been found by the medical teams, it is essential before the official announcement.
At the announcement, a period of mourning of nine days: the November. The Pope’s body is then blessed, dressed in pontifical clothes and exhibited in the Saint-Pierre basilica so that the public can pay him a last tribute. The funeral rite planned for Pope Francis makes him rest in an open coffin without too much splendor. At the same time begins the period of the “vacant sede” – which means “the siege is vacant” – during which the college of cardinals has power while waiting for the appointment of a new pope.
The pope’s funerals take place between four and six days after the death at the Saint-Pierre basilica and under the chairmanship of the dean of the Cardinals. But Pope Francis will not be buried in the caves of the Vatican as tradition dictates. In December 2023, the sovereign pontiff indicated in an interview which he had chosen to be buried in the Basilica Sainte-Marie Majeure in Rome, one of his favorite churches. Pope Francis also decided to be buried in a single coffin made of wood and zinc, unlike his predecessors who were buried in three coffins naked in each other: one in cypress, one in zinc and one in elm .
Several weeks before the appointment of a successor
When a pope dies, it took several weeks before a successor was appointed. Two to three weeks after the funeral of the sovereign pontiff, the college of the cardinals meets behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel to hold a conclave which will have to lead to the election of the new Saint-Père. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are authorized to vote, they will be around 120 to choose the successor to Pope Francis, who will have to be elected by the majority of two thirds of the Assembly. The conclave will last the time required for the election of the Pope and may proceed up to four votes per day. After each stripping, the bulletins will be burned and the results will be announced in the outside world by a smoke signal rising by the chimney of the Sistine Chapel: black smoke means that no pope has been elected, white smoke that The conclave has chosen a new sovereign pontiff.
After the elevation of white smoke, a representative of the Cardinals college will pronounce the Latin phrase Habemus Papam from the Balcony of the Saint-Pierre Basilica. The new Saint-Père who will have chosen his papal name and put on his white cassock will then pronounce his first speech before the faithful.
Who can succeed Pope Francis?
If theoretically all baptized men can claim papacy, in practice the Pope has been systematically chosen from cardinals for several hundred years. The election is generally played between a handful of cardinals. Pope Francis has worked in recent months for his successor to have the same ambitions as him for the Church. Despite certain criticisms, Pope Francis is seen as a progressive, especially with reforms that push towards more female inclusiveness in key positions, to strengthen financial transparency within the Church, to fight sexual abuse … reforms of which he does not Do not want them to be dismantled after departure.
Pope Francis has taken certain measures according to the Belgian media The free. He extended the mandate of Cardinal Giovanni Battista as dean of the Cardinals College, a central place within the conclave which will allow to designate who will be the next Pope. His position will allow him a greater influence on the pope’s election.
As for the candidates, three names return particularly to the table when it comes to the succession of Pope Francis: Pietro Parolin, Matteo Maria Zuppi and Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The first is an Italian cardinal, secretary of state and number 2 of the Vatican, but deemed too “erased” to take the head of the Holy See. The second is Archbishop of Bologna, but tried too close to the Sant’Egidio movement, an association of Catholic faithful. Finally, the third is the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and is tried too young to exercise these functions, from the top of its 58 years.