WORLD MOURNS

The late pope’s second cousin, who is a Silesian nun at a Catholic school in northeastern Thailand, says learning of his death affected her deeply, because “we are relatives, and I never expected such news so suddenly.”

“So I ask God to take him to heaven, and from heaven he will bless us,” Sister Ana Rosa Sivori told journalists Tuesday in the capital Bangkok ahead of a memorial church service.

She came to Thailand in 1966 as a young sister from Argentina, and was at the Pope’s side as a translator during his 2019 trip to Bangkok. She is due to fly to Italy Wednesday for his funeral.

Like many, she recalled Francis as strong in speaking his mind, especially on behalf of the poor, even if it were something the listener rather not hear.

Francis showed the first signs of illness at around 5:30 a.m. on Easter Monday and fell into a coma an hour later, “after making a gesture of farewell with his hand to Mr. (Massimiliano) Strappetti,’’ his personal health care assistant, Vatican News reported.

The people who were with Francis at the time say he did not appear to have suffered, the official Vatican news agency reported.

Pope Francis had doubts about the Easter Sunday popemobile ride through St. Peter’s Square, the first among the throngs of faithful since surviving near-fatal pneumonia, Vatican News reported on Tuesday.

“Do you think I can manage it?’’ the pontiff asked Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant, Vatican News reported.

The pope was reassured and he stopped to embrace people, especially children, as he was driven through the crowd of 50,000.

Afterward, Francis told Strappetti, “Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” Vatican News reported. On his previous outings to St. Peter’s Square during his convalescence, the pope was pushed in a wheelchair to the altar from the basilica, not out into the wider crowd.

Even though cardinals don’t campaign for the job, there are always front-runners going into a conclave to choose the next pope. These candidates, known as “papabile,” have what are regarded to be the qualities to be pope.

While any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible, only cardinals have been selected since 1378. The winner must receive at least two-thirds of the vote from those cardinals who are under age 80 and thus eligible to participate. The sacred and secretive process is no popularity contest, but rather considered to be the divinely inspired election of Christ’s Vicar on Earth by the princes of the church.

▶ Read more about who could be the next pope

Every pope has his critics. And Pope Francis probably expected that he would face opposition to his reform agenda after Catholics for two generations grew used to more conservative, doctrine-minded pontiffs.

But his critics were unique in that for the first years of his pontificate, they had a living alternate as a point of reference: Pope Benedict XVI. Among those who made their mark during Francis’ pontificate were Benedict’s longtime secretary as well as a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S.

Also included were four conservative cardinals who asked questions about Francis’ decision to open the door to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

▶ Read more about Francis’ many critics

Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, stunned the world when he announced his resignation in 2013 — the first in 600 years. That led some to wonder as Francis grew increasingly frail and sick if he would follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.

While Francis kept open the possibility, and even had a resignation letter prepared, he said more recently that he believed that the papacy was for life and pointed out the risks that papal resignations might become a “fashion” or the norm.

“I believe that the pope’s ministry is ad vitam (for life). I see no reason why it shouldn’t be so,” he said, according to closed-door comments reported by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.

▶ Read more about two popes living side-by-side

The 16th century basilica, built over the traditional tomb of the apostle St. Peter, is one of the largest Catholic basilicas in the world and is the centerpiece of Vatican City, headquarters of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. Pope Francis’ body will lay in state on the main altar.

The Renaissance masterpiece was built and decorated by some of the most illustrious architects and artists of the time. Its grottoes contain the remains of popes past and its vast marbled interior is home to some of the Vatican’s greatest treasures — including Michelangelo’s “Pieta” sculpture and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s baldacchinio, the gilded canopy over the main altar.

Pope Julius II laid the first stone of the building on the site of a previous church on April 18, 1506. But it took over a century for work to be completed. In the 17th century, Bernini designed the great colonnade that encircles the piazza in front of the basilica, embracing all those who enter. After a new pope is elected, he will be introduced to the world from the loggia over the basilica entrance with the words “Habemus Papam” or “We have a pope.”

Bethlehem is home to the Church of the Nativitywhere Christians believe Jesus was born. Pope Francis visited the city in 2014.

“He was our pope, not just our pope, he was our brother, our friend, our dear friend for Bethlehem. He always gave us big hope, he told us that you are not alone,” said Rony Tabash, 43, the Catholic owner of a souvenir shop in Bethlehem that’s been in his family for three generations.

Tabash hung photos of Pope Francis in memorial outside his business, overlooking a mostly empty Manger Square.

Tuesday’s mass in Bethlehem was also mostly empty. The Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is largely dependent on tourism, but visitors and pilgrims have largely stayed away in recent years — first during the pandemic and then during the 18-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

A wooden barrier on Tuesday covered the niche where Pope Francis will be buried in the Saint Mary Major Basilica, near an icon of Mary that he held dear, rather than St. Peter’s Cathedral or its crypt alongside previous popes.

In his will, Francis called for his tomb to be “in the ground; simple, without particular decoration, and with the sole inscription: Franciscus,’’ or Latin for Francis.

Before and after every foreign trip, he would stop to pray at the basilica’s image of Mary draped in a blue robe holding the infant Jesus. Francis last went to pray at the icon before Holy Week.

Francis is currently lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household. The Vatican says his body will be transferred Wednesday morning to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he will lie in state from 11 a.m. until midnight on Wednesday, from 7 a.m. until midnight on Thursday, and Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Once in St. Peter’s, his casket will not be put on an elevated bier — as was the case with past popes — but will just be be placed simply facing the pews, with the Paschal candle nearby. The basilica is normally open from 7 a.m. until 7:10 p.m.

Italian police patrolled St Peter’s Square and the surrounding streets on foot and horseback Tuesday as security in Rome was tightened ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral. Officers in boats controlled the nearby Tiber River.

Tens of thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects to Francis as he lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Wednesday. The funeral on Saturday will be attended by heads of state.

Rome was already packed with tourists, many in the city for the Easter holiday. A Jubilee Mass for adolescents on Sunday is expected to bring thousands of youths to the city.

The cardinals planning the next steps for the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis have decided to suspend all upcoming beatifications, pending the election of a new pope.

The decision was taken during the first meeting of the College of Cardinals on Tuesday.

The Vatican had already announced that Sunday’s planned canonization of the first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis, was suspended. But the decision from the cardinals means all other celebrations are on hold until a new pope is elected.

The decision is in keeping with Vatican norms governing the “interregnum” period between the death of one pope and the election of another. Among other things, those norms call for most top Vatican officials to officially lose their jobs until they are reconfirmed or replaced by a new pope.

At Jakarta’s Apostolic Nunciature, the official diplomatic mission of the Holy See in Indonesia, crowds gathered in the rain on Tuesday to offer their condolences over the death of Pope Francis.

A somber atmosphere filled the Nunciature as Catholics quietly recited prayers and waited in line to write their condolence messages and meet the Apostolic Nuncio, the Vatican’s permanent diplomatic representative.

“I would like to express my condolences to the Nuncio and pray from this place since we are experiencing limitations in coming to the Vatican,” Heri Wibowo, a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Jakarta, said.

He remembered Pope Francis as a humble figure, a quality the pontiff exemplified during his visit in September 2024 to Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population.

Cardinals began to arrive at the Vatican on Tuesday, in the flurry of activity following the Pope’s death on Monday. The cardinals are expected to discuss funeral arrangements, and plan the conclave to elect his successor. (AP video by Paolo Santalucia, Silvia Stellacci and Joel Paqui)

The Vatican says around 60 cardinals participated in the first meeting to decide next steps following the death of Pope Francis.

The cardinals haven’t set a date for the conclave to elect Francis’ successor, but the current norms suggest it couldn’t begin before May 5.

Three cardinals were chosen to help the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, administer the Vatican during the “interregnum” period before the election of a new pope.

Those cardinals are the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Polish Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica where Francis will be buried, and Cardinal Fabbio Baggio, a top official in the Vatican’s development and migrants office.

They will be replaced after three days with another three cardinals to help the interim Vatican administrator.

China expressed condolences over the passing of Pope Francis, who reached out to Beijing in an effort to improve relations and mend a seven-decade rift between a state-recognized Catholic church and an underground church loyal to Rome.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Tuesday that “China is ready to work with the Vatican side to continue the improvement of China-Vatican ties.”

The country’s Catholic community was divided when the Communist Party came to power and claimed the right to name bishops without consulting the Vatican.

In 2018, Francis’s Vatican brokered a deal with China that granted Rome’s approval to the bishops Beijing had picked. The provisional agreement was renewed in October 2024.

Pope Francis’ funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals.

The cardinals have also decided that the public viewing of Pope Francis will begin Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, after his casket is taken by procession from the Vatican hotel where he lived.

The master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, issued the rubrics for the procession by mandate of the College of Cardinals, which met Tuesday to take the first decisions following Francis’ death. Presiding over the procession and the ritual transfer will be the chamberlainor interim administrator of the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell.

Hundreds of Filipinos, some openly weeping, gathered for a mass at the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday to bid goodbye to the late pope, whom they remember for his outreach to the poor and survivors of natural disasters, which often devastate their country.

“He’s a rare progressive pope, who took up a lot of causes and showed a deep concern for the poor,” said Cynthia Esquilona, a 50-year-old mother of two who lit a candle and prayed before a portrait of Francis at the cathedral.

Francis visited the Philippines, a Catholic bastion in Asia, in early 2015 to console survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, which left thousands of people dead. Pictures showing him rain-soaked in stormy weather but constantly waving and blowing kisses to crowds of typhoon survivors have left a lasting impression.

They showed him in a wooden casketin red vestments and his bishop’s miter, with the Vatican secretary of state praying over him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where he lived.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton cancelled campaign events planned for Tuesday out of respect for the late pontiff, as early voting began for a May 3 general election.

Flags were flown at half staff from government buildings across the country where a 2021 census found 20% of the population were Catholics.

Albanese was raised as a Catholic but chose to be sworn in as prime minister when he was elected in 2022 by making a secular affirmation rather than by taking an oath on a Bible.

Albanese attended a Mass in honor of the pope in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Tuesday morning.

“I try not to talk about my faith in public,” Albanese told reporters, but added “At times like this, I think what people do is they draw on who they are and certainly my Catholicism is just a part of me.”

Dutton, who was raised by a Catholic father and Protestant mother and attended an Anglican school, planned to go to a church service in Sydney.

“I don’t think it’s a day for overt politicking at all. I think that the day is best spent reflecting,” Dutton told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The Indian flag flew at half-staff on Tuesday at all government buildings as the country observed three days of mourning as a mark of the respect for Pope Francis.

The Indian flag will be flown half-staff on government buildings across the country for the next two days, as well as on the day of the pontiff’s funeral, the Home Ministry said in a statement.

Members of Taiwan’s Catholic community gathered at a church in the capital Taipei for a somber mass as believers prayed and reflected on Francis’ spiritual legacy.

Former Premier Chen Chien-jen, a devout Catholic who visited the Vatican multiple times at the invitition of Francis and previous popes, spoke of the deep loss felt by the faithful.

Chen said “Pope Francis has led all of our churches to thrive over the past 12 years, making significant contributions to world peace and environmental sustainability,” Chen added. “We will remember the teachings he gave us: that we are all brothers and that loving one another makes the world a more peaceful place.”

Bernard Li, former president of Fu Jen Catholic University, highlighted the pope’s compassion and dedication to humanitarian causes.

“He was a compassionate pope who has consistently advocated for world peace and racial equality,” Li said.

President Lai Ching-te ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Tuesday in a show of mourning and respect.