Vatican Sets Out New Rules to Simplify Papal Funerals

Europe|Less Pomp, Fewer Coffins. Francis Sets Out to Simplify Papal Funerals

On Wednesday, the Vatican made public new rules to simplify papal funerals, reflecting Pope Francis’s yearslong commitment to shedding some of the Church’s old rituals and papal pageantry.

The changes — which include reducing the number of coffins in which the pope’s body is laid to one from three, and allowing the pope to be buried in a church other than St. Peter’s Basilica — are another testament to Francis’s longtime embrace of a more down-to-earth, informal style that has become a trademark of his papacy.

The new ritual “also needed to emphasize even more that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ,” Msgr. Diego Ravelli, the Vatican’s master of pontifical liturgical ceremonies, said in a statement. “And not of a powerful person of this world.”

From the beginning of his papacy, Francis has made a point of using symbols to break from the formality and pomp that has long marked the Roman Catholic Church. He has worn Casio watches and used modest cars, and instead of living in the apostolic palace, he has lived in Casa Santa Marta, a residence next to St. Peter’s where he takes his meals in a communal cafeteria.

With the new rules, experts say, Francis has taken another step to seal it into his legacy.

“Today it’s more like the funeral of a diocesan bishop rather than of a Roman emperor,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University,

Francis approved the liturgical book containing the new rules in April. It updates an edition that had been approved by Pope John Paul II and published in 2000. Francis had previously expressed his intention to update the funeral, telling a Mexican broadcaster last year that he wanted to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, not in St. Peter’s like most of his predecessors. Francis visited Santa Maria Maggiore the day after his election and goes there before and after international journeys to pray in front of an icon of the Virgin Mary, the Salus Populi Romani (salvation of the people of Rome).

According to the new rules, the body of the pope will lie for the viewing directly in the coffin, not on an elevated bier as in the past. The pope’s cypress coffin will also no longer be inserted into a second coffin made of lead, and then in a third one made of oak or another wood.

The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI last year was held according to the old rituals. Francis, 88, has suffered a string of health problems and surgeries in recent years, but he mostly appears to be in good form.