In a solemn Mass broadcast live across the world and witnessed by a quarter-million people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican bid farewell to Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s 266th pontiff. The funeral Mass began at 10 a.m. April 26 in Rome, so watching it live in the United States required a tolerance for a monastic sense of time-keeping.
Still, multiple broadcast networks, including Eternal Word Television Network, offered video on demand that ranged from the full service to many portions of it. EWTN’s coverage was reverent, despite historic theological tensions between the network and Pope Francis.
In St. Peter’s Square, most people were wearing hats and sunglasses, and many were using cellphones to capture footage of the lengthy and unhurried Mass. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals since 2020, was the celebrant. Cardinal Re is 91, three years older than the late pope, and he did not falter in his delivery. After speaking a first sentence into a microphone, he tapped it to be sure the microphone was live.
As cardinals began processing out of St. Peter’s Basilica, many of the men in St. Peter’s Square began removing their hats.
Other than the readings, which were in English, Latin was the default language of the funeral. Still, many observers in the square followed along ably. During Cardinal Re’s homily, they applauded when he mentioned the pope’s vision of the church as “a field hospital,” his visit to the island of Lampedusa to highlight the plight of refugees, his journey to Iraq, his repeated calls for peace, and his opposition to war.
“With his characteristic vocabulary and language, rich in images and metaphors, he always sought to shed light on the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel,” Cardinal Re preached.
“He did so by offering a response guided by the light of faith and encouraging us to live as Christians amid the challenges and contradictions in recent years, which he loved to describe as an ‘epochal change.’ He had great spontaneity and an informal way of addressing everyone, even those far from the Church.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization. He gave of himself by comforting and encouraging us with a message capable of reaching people’s hearts in a direct and immediate way.”
While Cardinal Re censed Pope Francis’ casket, the pages of a Gospel book turned in the wind, as they did during Pope John Paul II’s funeral.
Dignitaries attending the ceremony included President Donald Trump, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, an atheist.
The Anglican delegation, led by the Most Rev. Marinez Bassotto of Brazil, consisted of 10 people, most of whom are involved in ecumenical dialogue with the Vatican.
Douglas LeBlanc is the Associate Editor for Book Reviews and writes about Christianity and culture. He and his wife, Monica, attend St. John’s Parish Church on Johns Island, South Carolina.
