The death of Pope Francis on Monday at the age of 88 set off grief and mourning around the world — along with a complex process to find a successor.
Here is what to know about how Francis died, and what is expected to happen next.
How did the pope die?
The Vatican said Francis died of a cerebral stroke that brought on a coma and the collapse of his cardiovascular system.
The pontiff had recently returned to the Vatican to convalesce after a weekslong stay in the hospital to treat pneumonia in both lungs. Twice during that 38-day hospitalization, doctors said, Francis nearly died.
Contrary to his doctors’ orders to stay essentially isolated in his Vatican residence to recover, the pope resumed a limited schedule after his release from the hospital. A day before his death, he met with Vice President JD Vance and blessed the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Mass.
He had made several public appearances over the past week. But his weak, raspy voice was a reminder of his frailty.
What happens when a pope dies?
Time-honored rituals have been drafted and refined over the centuries to ensure secrecy and an orderly transition. The carefully choreographed pageantry provides order to a church in its most dramatic moment of flux.
The Vatican said in a statement that Francis had died at 7:35 a.m. on Monday.
A pope’s death is confirmed by the head of the Vatican’s health department and the cardinal chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, who becomes the Vatican’s de facto administrator. The pope’s body is dressed in a white cassock and brought to the pope’s private chapel.
The cardinal chamberlain, camerlengo in Italian, is a position now held by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, a 77-year-old American of Irish origin. He and other officials, along with members of the pope’s family, congregated in the chapel for a ceremony. The body was placed in a coffin made of wood and lined with zinc. The pope was dressed in red, his miter and pallium placed next to him.
After the ceremony, the camerlengo drafted a document authenticating the pope’s death, affixing the doctor’s report. He secured the pontiff’s private papers and sealed his apartments, which in the case of Francis were a large section of the second floor at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City guesthouse used by visiting cardinals, where Francis has lived throughout his papacy.
He also arranged for the destruction of the so-called fisherman’s ring, used by the pope to seal documents, with a ceremonial hammer, to prevent forgeries.
Will Francis lie in state?
The pope brought an unpretentious style to the church — rejecting elaborate outfits and the ornate papal apartments. His plans kept that up to the end, scaling back some of the funerary pomp and ceremony.
In rewriting the funeral rites in 2024, Francis simplified several elements. Since the 13th century, the bodies of popes have gone on public view, their embalmed bodies placed on a raised pedestal. When John Paul II died in 2005, his body was first brought to the Apostolic Palace within hours for a private viewing for cardinals, bishops and other members of the church hierarchy, as well as prominent Italian officials.
Francis did away with that sort of viewing. Instead, a public viewing will take place directly in St. Peter’s Basilica, where thousands have thronged to pay their respects to popes in the past. But his embalmed body will remain in the coffin, which will not be on a raised pedestal. “Francis decided to highlight humility over glorification,” said Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a church historian.
Francis’ coffin will be transported in a procession on Wednesday from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Farrell will then preside over a liturgy, after which viewings will begin.
When will Pope Francis’ funeral take place?
The funeral and burial of the pope are supposed to take place four to six days after a pope’s death, and funeral rites in various churches in Rome will last nine days.
Past popes were put in three nested coffins, one of cypress, one of zinc and one of elm. But as part of Francis’ rule change, he decreed that he would be buried in a single coffin, made of wood and lined in zinc.
The coffin is closed the night before the funeral. The pope’s face is covered by a white silk veil, and he is buried with a bag containing coins minted during his papacy and a canister with a “rogito,” or “deed,” briefly listing details of his life and papacy. The rogito is read aloud before the coffin is closed.
The new rules also allow for a pope to be buried in a church other than St. Peter’s Basilica. Francis has asked to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, a church dear to him and one he often visited to pray in front of an icon of the Virgin Mary.
The pope’s funeral will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, according to the Vatican. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, the 252 men known as the “princes of the church,” will preside. The coffin will then be brought into St. Peter’s, named for the first pope, and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
How will the next pope be chosen?
Within 15 to 20 days of the pope’s death, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, must summon the cardinals to Rome for what is known as a conclave to elect Francis’ successor.
The period between the death of a pope and the election of a new one is called the “sede vacante,” or the “seat is vacant.” During that time, the College of Cardinals keeps general oversight of the church, but it is barred from making any major decisions.
When the cardinals meet for the conclave, they gather in the Sistine Chapel. All cardinal electors must swear an oath of secrecy and vote by secret ballot. Only cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope, and politicking is part of the process.
Cardinals are not allowed to leave the conclave except in rare cases. The word conclave — from the Latin “with key” — refers to the isolation imposed on them, which is meant to keep the electoral process from dragging on.
During the conclave, the cardinals live in Casa Santa Marta, which was built on John Paul II’s orders to replace the improvised rooming arrangements in the papal palace that had previously housed them.
The cardinals cast repeated votes until a two-thirds majority emerges. After every vote, the ballot papers are burned in a stove, along with an additive that produces a color, and the smoke is released through a chimney that can be seen from St. Peter’s Square, where crowds typically form to watch and wait. If a vote ends without a two-thirds majority, the smoke is black.
When a decision is reached, the smoke is white.
Inside the Vatican, the dean of the college asks the chosen successor whether he accepts the job. After getting the presumed yes, the dean asks him for the name he wishes to be called as pope.
In the sacristy of the chapel, the new pontiff is dressed in a white cassock. After greeting the cardinals, he proceeds to a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, where a senior cardinal proclaims, in Latin, “Habemus papam” or “We have a pope.”
How long will it take to choose a new pope?
The length of papal conclaves has varied widely over the centuries. But if the last 100 or so years are any guide, it should take no more than a week.
The longest conclave in that time took 14 ballots, lasted five days and produced Pope Pius XI in 1922. Francis was elected after two days of voting. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was chosen just a day after the conclave to select a new pontiff started — among the shortest of the last century — on a fourth ballot. The shortest conclave, the election of Pope Pius XII in 1939, took only three ballots.
But it has not always been so quick: The conclave that ended with the election of Pope Gregory X on Sept. 1, 1271, took two years, nine months and two days.
Gregory subsequently wrote new rules to speed up the process. If a new pope was not elected within three days, he decreed, rations would be cut to one meal a day. After five more days, the cardinals would be restricted to bread and water. The next conclave lasted a day.
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief for The Times, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe.
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