The Vatican released the first images of Pope Francis since his passing.
He was shown in a wooden coffin, dressed in red robes with a rosary in hand and the papal mitre on his head.
Cardinals gathered at the Santa Marta chapel for prayers and the formal Confirmation of Death.
A solemn moment marking the end of an era.
Here’s a few questions that arise:
There is bruising on his face, and it’s not consistent with cause of death? No fall reported?
Whats the deal with the guard next to him?
And why would they let him look so terrible and not even apply some basic makeup?
As for the guard:
CBS News reports:
Pope Francis’ funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern) on Saturday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced Tuesday, following a meeting of the College of Cardinals at the Catholic Church’s city-state headquarters in the heart of Rome. The coffin carrying the pope, who died Monday morning after suffering a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88, will be brought in a procession Wednesday morning, accompanied by cardinals, to the basilica from his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he died.
The pope’s body was placed in his coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence on Monday. On Tuesday, the Vatican released the first photos and video of Francis since his death, showing him in the wooden coffin wearing a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary intertwined in his hands.
The images showed cardinals and other church officials performing what the Vatican said was the formal Confirmation of the Pope’s Death and praying over his body.
CBS News correspondent Seth Doane said the intimate service at the Santa Marta hotel gave senior clergy and Vatican insiders a private chance to pay their respects to Francis. The Vatican’s ornately attired Swiss Guards were, as ever, standing at attention by the pope’s side.
Church officials also shared some details about the pope’s final hours, describing “a discreet death, almost sudden, without long suffering or public alarm.”
The interim administrator of the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-American who will play a major role in the funeral and subsequent events in the coming weeks, will preside over the procession and the ritual transfer of the pope’s body to St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pontiff will lie in state ahead of his funeral at the basilica from Wednesday morning, the Vatican said. The funeral Mass will be celebrated three days later by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re. The papal funeral is broken down into three separate phases, or “stations.” They are the preparation of the body, the viewing of the body, and then the burial.
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