Category World News

Pope Francis will lie in state for three days before his funeral on Saturday, according to the crowds at St. Peter’s Basilica. As they gathered to see the late pontiff’s final glimpse, pilgrims who traveled across the globe wept, prayed, and waited in silence.

Vatican City – Pope Francis’s funeral will be held in the Vatican on Saturday at 10am local time (8:00 GMT), with hundreds of thousands of guests and mourners expected to attend the late pontiff’s final ceremonies.

US President Donald Trump and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be among the dozens of dignitaries travelling to the Vatican for the ceremony, which will be a simpler affair than previous papal funerals.

Last year, the Argentine pope amended the funeral rites to show that he was a “disciple of Christ” rather than “a powerful man of this world”.

Who will be there?

As well as being a major religious event, papal funerals also have an important diplomatic dimension.

The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but he also leads the Holy See – a sovereign juridical entity with a seat at the United Nations – and the Vatican city-state. There are some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, concentrated above all in Europe, the Americas and increasingly in Africa.

For this reason, papal funerals tend to attract large numbers of political figures. When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, his funeral attracted some 70 presidents and prime ministers – making it one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history.

Among those to have already confirmed their attendance for Francis’s funeral on Saturday are US President Trump, the UN chief Guterres, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend, according to the Kremlin, but there will be a delegation from China.

Alongside these political figures, there will be large numbers of Catholics and other well-wishers.

The Italian government said on Tuesday that it expected at least 200,000 foreigners to travel to Rome for the funeral. Although the Vatican is a sovereign state, it is located in the heart of the Italian capital, and Italy will help manage some elements of the logistics.

There is, however, some reason to think that the eventual turnout will be higher than the Italian government’s estimate – the last funeral of a sitting pope, John Paul II, attracted some four million attendees.

That said, the number of mourners on Saturday might not quite reach that high. While both popes enjoyed high levels of popularity, John Paul had served for 26 years, compared to Francis’s 12. Moreover, John Paul’s native Poland – where he had a huge number of admirers – was close enough to Italy to facilitate large-scale travel.

What will happen at the funeral?

In 2024, Pope Francis simplified the Rite of Burial for Roman Pontiffs, which lays out the rubrics for papal funerals.

According to the new rites, Francis will be buried in a single coffin, rather than the three used by previous popes.

Different language will be used, too – during the funeral, the pope will be called “Bishop of Rome”, “Pope”, “Pastor”, or “Roman Pontifex”, with grander titles such as “Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church” now avoided.

Mirticeli Medeiros, a Catholic Church historian and Vatican correspondent for Brazil’s GloboNews, told Al Jazeera that “Francis’s simplification of the funeral rituals reflects not only his humility, which was well known, but also his revolution of the institution of the papacy”.

“He always said that he did not feel comfortable with the idea that the Vatican was the last absolute monarchy of Europe,” Medeiros said. “That is why, from the very beginning, he presented himself as ‘Bishop of Rome’, which for him was the most dignified title – he was a bishop, a pastor and a Christian like any other.”

Explaining the changes, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, said that the aim was to highlight that the pope’s funeral is “that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ, and not of a powerful man of this world”.

Archbishop Ravelli added that it was Francis himself who had stressed the need to “adapt certain rites, so that the celebration of the funeral of the Bishop of Rome might better express the Church’s faith in the risen Christ”.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old Italian who is currently dean of the College of Cardinals, is expected to preside over the pope’s funeral mass.

He will lead those present in prayers and Bible readings, and will deliver the final commendation and valediction, entrusting the pope’s soul to God.

The funeral will be held in a variety of different languages, reflecting the Catholic Church’s international nature and the varied backgrounds of those present.

It is likely that – as is the case for most masses of this kind at the Vatican – the main prayers will be said in Latin and Italian, with Bible readings in Italian, Spanish, and English, and a number of shorter prayers in other languages such as Arabic, Polish, and Chinese.

What happens after the funeral?

After Pope Francis’s funeral, his coffin will be transferred to the Basilica of St Mary Major, a church lying outside the Vatican’s walls that he was particularly fond of visiting.

Francis will be the first pope to be buried there since the 1600s, and the first in over 100 years to be buried outside the Vatican.

In his final testament, released on Monday, the pope asked that his tomb be “in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation”, and specified that the only word should be his papal name in Latin: “Franciscus.”

A plain gravestone in a church that hasn’t held a pope’s remains in centuries – it’s a fitting final resting place for a man who will be remembered by many for his humility and his independence.

“After his election in 2013, the pope first appeared in public wearing simple white vestments, as a way to demonstrate his desire for a less ostentatious church”, Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, told Al Jazeera.

Iran and the US resume indirect nuclear discussions, with uranium enrichment and sanctions relief still a significant sticking point.

Over the phone, Patricia is sobbing.

About a dozen Tunisian police officers informed her camp that she and other refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants living rough in Tunisian olive fields had to leave.

They gave them 48 hours.

They were only told to stay in one of the 15 or so camps outside the city when the police first expelled its refugee population in September 2023, and that they were unable to relocate there.

Patricia, a nurse, had been a nurse for months and had been based at Kilometre 33, which was named for its shortness of city as well as the distance from her makeshift clinic.

She is now unsure of where she will go, along with the elderly, the elderly, the nursing mothers, and the elderly. No one is making any fanciful predictions about what will transpire after the deadline has passed.

Other camps that were destroyed by the three-week-old police operation have been burned and demolished with heavy equipment. Has anyone been detained for resisting?

She responds, “I don’t know what I will do.” “I’m not sure where to go,” the statement read.

Their camp might be safe, according to Patricia and others. The elders, or “stakeholders,” who resolve disputes between camp residents, contacted security personnel and requested that they spare Kilometre 33, which is relatively quiet.

It hasn’t succeeded.

She now has to wait for the police to arrive or for assistance.

She requested a trip to Sierra Leone from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a few months ago.

She is still awaiting a response.

Describe the life of a midwife.

Patricia described wanting to be a nurse since she was a girl living in northern Sierra Leone’s Makeni with her parents and younger sister in an interview with Al Jazeera a few days prior.

She recalls her father, who was a mobile phone network driver, taking her to the family’s village to observe the daily lives of other children.

She said, “I would give the children the water and medicine they needed, and I would explain how crucial it was to take their medicine.”

Aisha, the nurse there, urged me to assist her. Watch her, she told my father. One of these will be a nurse.

After qualifying as a nurse, Patricia made the decision to concentrate on midwifery.

“I’m still working here as a nurse.” She explained how she brought her credentials with her to the nearby pharmacies to plead for the medications she needed to use at the settlement. “I have my license with me.

When I graduated [in 2020], my father was so happy. He believed that everything would turn out fine. I particularly desired to work as a midwife. She said, “I enjoyed making deliveries and working with kids.”

However, Patricia’s life ended on April 22, 2022, when her father was killed in a car accident.

The hospital where Patricia had worked for years refused to treat him because of lack of funds, instead just providing him with a bed where he passed away a few days later.

Days without water while walking

After her father passed away, a friend’s phone called her and changed her life forever.

The unnamed man from the village of her family was on hand to assist her as she traveled through Tunisia to Europe seven years ago.

Patricia brought up the conversation. He said, “You have nothing, how can you survive?” and inquired about taking me on this trip to Europe. He said it was okay after I told him I had no money. I could not fly, but he would pay. I would need to walk and take public transportation.

It was simple to find transportation to take Patricia through Mali and Guinea. She had to walk, though, in Algeria.

“We would sometimes walk for days without water. I witnessed fatalities. My friend might call me and impart courage on occasion. He would say, “You have to go on.” But the challenge was great.

The young woman who had never left her home country eventually crossed into Tunisia in April 2024, where she was taken to Kilometre 33, three failed attempts to cross Europe, and now total uncertainty.

She recalls that when I arrived, they said we would leave tomorrow. “I looked around and saw all the people who had no food or shelter, and I thought, “If they can do it, I can do it for one night.”

But “then a smuggler brought the plastic to build a shelter,” I wondered, “Why do we need it if it’s only for one night?”

He claimed the weather was bad the following day, adding that there was always a reason for it.

Patricia and her friend called more frequently, and they also contacted more smugglers. She attempted the first of three failed crossings to Europe in June, less than two months after arriving.

She and others attempted to cross international waters just last month after a second attempt in October, but Tunisian security forces pulled them back and dumped them in the desert without access to phones, money, or directions.

“We spent 16 days there.” I wanted to pass away frequently. No rescue signs were present.

She claims that “all around us were bad people, the police, the Tunisian mafia,” along with robbers who attacked and attempted to steal.

She claims there won’t be a fourth crossing.

How well-known is the respect of human rights?

The authorities have harmed residents of the camps outside Sfax throughout her time in Tunisia.

They have reportedly promised to clear them all under the personal direction of President Kais Saied, defending it as a response to farmers’ complaints that they are unable to access their olive groves.

A National Guard spokesman said that the Red Crescent, the Health Ministry, and the Civil Protection agency had already cleared camps in the al-Amra and Jebeniana areas, north of Sfax, when they announced the program in early April.

An undetermined number of people “dispersed into the countryside” and were being taken over by health authorities by about 4, 000 people of various nationalities, according to them, and they had left one camp.

However, none of the refugees Al Jazeera spoke to after the operation were aware of any financial assistance being provided to the vulnerable.

The Tunisian Ministry of Interior, which regulates both the police and the national guard, has not yet responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Authorities are trying to frame their most recent operation, which was carried out in response to a propaganda campaign, according to Romdhane Ben Amor of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).

He said it’s unclear how human rights are being violated by migrants burning their tents or small cloths, adding that it’s unclear how they are being done.

Unknown as to the destination

Many of the people who were expelled from the camps are still undetermined where they are right now.

Some people, according to Al Jazeera, claim to still be hiding out in the olive fields and hiding from the police.

Ben Amor believes that other people have been abandoned in the desert after being taken to Algeria and then busted to the border, as has previously happened.

The national press, which is more focused on what Ben Amor refers to as “propaganda” justifying bulldozing camps, has not been asked where these people might have ended up, or where Patricia might go.

Member of Parliament Tarek Mahdi addressed the president’s assertions that Tunisia was in “immediate danger” earlier this month, citing the fact that “births among migrant women have reached 6, 000 births in a short time.”

On the other hand, Patricia only wants to know where her patients will go to bed in two nights.

She is unable to endure her continued travels to Europe, and officials have not yet contacted her about her return.

Why do they want to hurt us, you ask? “she asked”. We are also people.