Pope Francis's Funeral Is Set to Be a Major Event for the Catholic Church (2025)

The Catholic Church is the subject of major attention following the death of Pope Francis. Even as speculation continues to build around who the next pope might be, others are still in mourning for Pope Francis, and wondering whether they'll have one more chance to mourn him.

Preparations are, in fact, underway for Pope Francis's funeral, but many people want to know when that funeral might be. Here's what we know.

When is Pope Francis's funeral?

Per NPR, Pope Francis's funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 10:00 am. It will be held in St. Peter's Square, in front of the 16th-century basilica. The funeral will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

Pope Francis is currently lying in state at St. Peter's Basilica, and mourners have been invited to line up to see his body. There is currently a line around St. Peter's Square to see his body.

Francis's body is being presented in a single wooden casket. Previous popes were presented in three nested coffins: one of cypress wood, one of elm, and one of lead. The three coffins were meant to symbolize the pope's role as both a global figure and a spiritual leader. Francis's more simplistic presentation is in line with his papacy, which often involved stripping away many of the more ornate elements of Catholic ritual.

Will Pope Francis's funeral be televised?

Pope Francis's funeral will be at 4 a.m. on the East Coast, so watching it in the United States will be a little bit like waking up early for a royal wedding. While there have been no published plans for televising the funeral, it seems overwhelmingly likely that it will be available to anyone interested in watching it on news channels like CNN. NBC has confirmed that it will be broadcasting the funeral, and that it will be available on NBC News NOW on the NBC app, Peacock, and YouTube.

Essentially, if you want to watch the funeral of Pope Francis, it doesn't seem like it's going to be very difficult to find. All it will require is for you to wake up earlier than you probably would normally. It also seems likely that the funeral will be archived and will be available to watch in some form afterward, either via YouTube or through some other means.

Although popes' funerals were held for generations before they could be broadcast, all recent papal ceremonies have been televised as a moment for the Catholic community and all those who admired Pope Francis to mourn. Soon, the attention will turn fully to the conclave, and to the question of who will step into Francis's rather enormous shoes.

The funeral will give us one last chance to honor the previous pope, though, and all the ways he helped to modernize and transform the Catholic Church. Whether his successor will chart a similar path or take the church in a new direction entirely still remains to be seen.