Pope Francis has opted to be buried in a wood casket when he’s laid to relaxation – amending a centuries-old custom of a adorned ship off as he works to simplify papal customs.
The 87-year-old pontiff – who turns 88 subsequent month – enacted a brand new set of liturgical rites aimed toward modernizing the Catholic Church that scraps prolonged, garish funeral practices his predecessors noticed upon their deaths, Reuters reported.
When he dies, Francis will now be instantly positioned in a single wood casket lined with zinc, slightly than the three interlocking caskets manufactured from cypress, lead and oak.
Prior custom laid the pontiff’s physique throughout the hermetic caskets and would permit for objects, similar to cash and papers issued by the pope throughout his reign, to be buried with him.
The open coffin will then sit at St. Peter’s Basilica for mourners to pay their respects — nixing a funeral customized of the papal physique being displayed on a raised platform propped up by ornament, Reuters reported.
Francis opted to be laid to relaxation at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Main, a church he incessantly visits throughout worldwide journeys, and never alongside his quick predecessors.
He’ll change into the primary pope in additional than 100 years to be buried outdoors the Vatican — a title held by Leo XIII, who was entombed at Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran in 1903, Reuters reported.
Francis, who introduced final 12 months his want to change the intricate and prolonged funeral rites, has been open about his well being challenges, together with knee and again ache that now requires him to make use of a wheelchair.
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