Sri Lanka's Cardinal Heads To Vatican

by Staff Writer 23-04-2025 | 10:54 AM

COLOMBO (News 1st); His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, departed for the Vatican on Wednesday (23) morning.

He is set to attend the funeral of the late Pope Francis and participate in the subsequent conclave to elect the new Pope.

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Pope Francis’ funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM in St. Peter’s Square.

On Wednesday, the coffin containing the Pope’s body will be carried from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica, so that the faithful may pay their respects.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of translation on April 23, which will begin at 9:00 AM with a moment of prayer.

The procession will pass through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, according to the Holy See Press Office.

The procession will then exit through the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square and enter the Vatican Basilica through the central door.

At the Altar of the Confession, the Cardinal Camerlengo will preside over the Liturgy of the Word, at the conclusion of which the visits to the body of the Roman Pontiff will commence.

St Peter's Basilica will remain open for the faithful who wish to pay their respects to the late Pope on Wednesday from 11: AM to midnight; on Thursday from 7:00 AM to midnight; and on Friday from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

The rite confirming the death and the placement of Pope Francis’s body in the coffin took place on the evening of Monday 21 April in the ground-floor chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

The official declaration of death was read aloud. The act was validated by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. The ceremony lasted just under an hour.

Seals were also placed on the papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace and on the apartment on the second floor of Casa Santa Marta, where the Pope had resided.

The cause of Pope Francis' death has been identified as a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.

Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, issued the official certification, and the Holy See Press Office released the report on Monday evening, the day the Pope died.

Source: The Vatican