The Vatican closed this Sunday (04.05.2025) the nine days of mourning decreed by the death of Pope Francis with a mass in honor of the “intense pastoral life” of the Argentine pontiff.
The novelty – as they are called – are part of the protocol after the death of the Pope.
Francisco died at age 88 on April 21 and the duel formally began on the 26th, the day of his funeral before some 400,000 people and senior dignitaries.
His successor will be chosen in a conclave that begins on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel.
Every day of the novelty a Mass was held in the Basilica of San Pedro with the presence of the Church cardinals.
The Sunday was officiated by the French cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who has the title of Protodiácono and will be the one who pronounces the famous and expected phrase in Latin “Habemus Papam” after the successor of the Pontiff is chosen.
In the homily, Mamberti celebrated the “ability of worship” of the deceased Argentine Jesuit. “His intense pastoral life, his innumerable meetings, were based on the long moments of prayer that the Ignatian discipline had instilled in him,” said Prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature.
“We will remain in memory and in our hearts their 126 stops in front of the ‘Salus Populi Romani’, an icon attributed to Saint Lucas that represents the Virgin with the Child Jesus in her arms.
“And now that it rests near the beloved image, we trust it with gratitude and confidence to the intercession of the mother of the Lord and our mother,” said the cardinal.
Mamberti will vote in the conclave to choose the new Pope when he is 73 years old.
MG (AFP, EFE)
