World leaders will gather in Rome on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican has confirmed as tributes to the late pontiff continued worldwide.
The pope’s body will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica for the next three days, where thousands of Catholics are expected to pay their respects.
Meanwhile, preparations for Saturday’s funeral, including a big security operation around the Vatican, were getting under way as the world’s media arrived in Rome in advance of the week’s events and the papal conclave to select the next pope, which will follow.
US president Donald Trump, British prime minister Keir Starmer, European commissioner president Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy were among the many world leaders who said they would attend Saturday’s funeral.
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The Republic will be represented by President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, accompanied by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris.
The Government confirmed that flags will be flown at half-mast over public buildings on Saturday to mark the sombre occasion.
President Higgins visited the papal nunciature in Dublin on Tuesday to sign a book of condolencences.
Afterwards, he said: “I thought of the times we have met and the discussions we had, his ability to embrace the suffering, particularly those who are marginalised. I noted in the way his vision was wider than many people in politics and public life.”
Mr Higgins described the pontiff’s trip to Ireland in August 2018 as a “warm visit”.
“We were all very, very pleased. I think I met him five times, and I value and appreciate all of those conversations,” he added. “But I know as I was signing on behalf of all of the people, there are people outside of the Catholic Church - really, his stress was always on our shared humanity.”
An incorporeal Cabinet meeting is expected to be held this week to approve Mr Higgins’s attendance at the funeral as, under the Constitution, the President is not permitted to leave the State during their term of office except with the consent of the Government.
The funeral Mass will take place on St Peter’s Square at 10am on Saturday with Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, presiding.
A key figure in the Vatican in the days before the funeral and the subsequent conclave will be Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who was appointed camerlengo by the late pope in 2019. He has responsibility for the administration of the Vatican until a pontiff is elected, and led prayers over the body of the late pope.
Cardinal Farrell (77) was born in Drimnagh and has spent most of his clerical life in the United States. He is the most senior Irish man at the Vatican. Cardinal Farrell was educated by the Christian Brothers, as was his older brother, Bishop Brian Farrell, though neither man served as a priest in Ireland.
On Tuesday night in the Vatican, the air among people scattered across St Peter’s Square was one of sad resignation.
What had been expected had happened, but it was still a surprise. Betty Leahy, from Killeagh in Co Cork, said it was “very sad to hear he is dead, but I think everybody was kind of half expecting it. It’s a very special time to be here and an honour. He was a very good man and seemed to be very honourable.”
