- Pope Francis’ funeral will take place on Saturday 26 April
- The service will be viewable via livestreams and broadcasts
- President Donald Trump and Prince William are among the guests
The funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, will be held on Saturday 26 April, in Italy.
He died following a series of health complications that had seen him hospitalized for five weeks in February. The cause of death was a stroke that put him into a coma and led to heart failure.
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The Holy Father has been lying in state since Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, the papal enclave in Rome. He is dressed in traditional papal garb and resting in a simple wooden coffin.
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As the public says their final goodbyes ahead of Saturday’s service, tens of thousands of mourners have gathered to pay their respects.
When is Pope Francis’ funeral?
If you’re hoping to watch from the United States, prepare for an early start – the funeral will begin at 10:00 a.m. local time in Italy, which is 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time. If you’re on the West Coast, you might just stay up late, as it will air at 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Viewers in the UK can tune into the service starting at 9:00 a.m. local time.
More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, which will take place in St. Peter’s Square – the iconic plaza in front of the basilica in Vatican City.
Among those in attendance will be world leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prince William, who will represent his father, King Charles.
The service will mark the beginning of the Novemdiales, an ancient tradition of nine days of mourning and Masses for the repose of the late Pope’s soul.
According to tradition, the pope’s funeral will be followed two to three weeks later by a secret meeting called a conclave. During this time, 135 cardinals from around the world will gather in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next leader of the Catholic Church. The conclave is expected to start between May 5 and May 10.
How can I watch the funeral?
Vatican News, the official news outlet of the Holy See, will provide comprehensive live stream coverage of Pope Francis’s funeral via its YouTube channel.
The broadcast will be available to watch in English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German.
Major U.S. news networks – including CNN, NBC, ABC, FNC, and CBS – will also offer live coverage.
ABC’s coverage will be titled Celebrating Francis: The People’s Pope and will start at 3:30 a.m. ET. The network will also provide coverage of the upcoming papal conclave and the installation of the new Pope.
USA Today will also be streaming the funeral mass live from 3 a.m. ET.
In the UK, BBC One’s coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs for four hours, with Reeta Chakrabarti presenting live from Vatican City.
