Dos guardias suizos velan día y noche el féretro del papa Francisco en la capilla de su residencia privada. A su lado, hay un cirio encendido a sus pies, pocas flores y algunas personas que rezan por él, únicamente clérigos, monjas o empleados vaticanos, todos sumidos en un clima de profundo respeto.

El velatorio fue dispuesto en la que fue su residencia durante sus más de doce años de reinado: la Casa Santa Marta, un sencillo y más animado edificio dentro del Estado vaticano, junto al ábside (parte abovedada) de la basílica.

Leé también: El Vaticano reveló cómo fueron las últimas horas del papa Francisco antes de morir

El féretro es de madera, simple. Fue instalado en su capilla privada, situada en la planta baja, tal y como él mismo quiso simplificar las que serían sus exequias.

Los restos de Francisco serán trasladados el miércoles a la basílica de San Pedro

El cuerpo del pontífice, fallecido el lunes a los 88 años de edad a causa de un ictus y tras meses con graves problemas respiratorios, será trasladado este miércoles a la basílica de San Pedro para su exposición ante los fieles.

Pero mientras tanto, su capilla ardiente transcurre de forma privada, reservada únicamente a miembros de la Curia, religiosas o empleados de la Santa Sede que deben mostrar su acreditación antes de cruzar las murallas del hermético Estado papal, en el centro de Roma.

Ya dentro, quienes quieran despedir al pontífice deben guardar bajo este tórrido sol de abril a que un gendarme les permita acceder a Santa Marta, protegido por un severo protocolo de seguridad.

Luego van desfilando por los pasillos de su planta baja, entre santos, vírgenes y algunas plantas, hasta llegar a la capilla, a la que se entra en grupos pequeños.

Leé también: Reformistas vs. conservadores: quiénes son los candidatos con más posibilidades de suceder a Francisco

Dentro, varios agentes de la policía vaticana y la Guardia Suiza vestidos de civiles controlan que nadie se salga de la línea: la seña es de máximo respeto y decoro.

Pero también por cuestiones de seguridad ya que a la residencia de ya han comenzado a llegar las primeras autoridades eclesiásticas, varios purpurados y también políticos, como el presidente de Italia, Sergio Mattarella.

Cómo es el velatorio

La capilla es una pequeña sala con techo en forma triangular, como una cabaña de cemento, apoyada en una fila de cuatro columnas y en el que, por un lado, se cuela la luz natural, con una estrecha galería de cristales que dan a las murallas leoninas.

Francisco reposa en el ábside de la capilla, bajo un crucifijo de madera y una inscripción en letras doradas que recorre el techo triangular: ‘Veni sancte Spiritus reple tuorum corda fidelium’, una oración: ‘Ven Espíritu Santo y llena el corazón de tus fieles’.

En la caja, forrada en tela roja, el papa aparece ataviado con paramentos púrpura, signo de máxima distinción y dignidad, con una mitra blanca de obispo en la cabeza y un rosario entre las manos.

Leé también: Javier Milei viajará el jueves al Vaticano para el funeral del papa Francisco

El féretro es custodiado día y noche por dos guardias suizos con su colorido uniforme, yelmo metálico, pluma roja y alabarda en mano, pero también por los fieles del papa que han llegado al recinto.

A media mañana, justo después de la visita de Mattarella, en la capilla hay unos 45 fieles, algunos sentados en sillas y otros de pie: hay varios arzobispos, tal y como indican sus fajines violeta, así como religiosas y otras personas que clavan sus rodillas en el suelo para orar profundamente, en medio de un silencio sepulcral.

A sus pies, sobre una alfombra, alguien ha dejado unos ramitos de flores blancas y amarillas, los colores de la bandera vaticana.

Tras la oración, un empleado vaticano indica la salida, rápida y directa pues la Ciudad del Vaticano no admite paseos.

En esta capilla, el cardenal camarlengo, Kevin Joseph Farrell, practicó el rito de la constatación de la muerte del papa, para después sellar sus apartamentos tal y como dicta el antiguo protocolo para evitar que se toquen los documentos del difunto.

Desde la mañana del miércoles el cuerpo del pontífice será expuesto ante los fieles en la basílica de San Pedro y el sábado tendrá lugar su funeral, antes de que Francisco repose para siempre en una sencilla cripta del templo romano de Santa María La Mayor.

For his final journey, Pope Francis, dressed in red vestments and a traditional white cassock, will be carried to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore outside the Vatican on Saturday, where he will be laid to rest.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Regina Maria Sivori and Mario Jose Francisco in Argentina, died on Monday, April 21, 2025, of a stroke and cardiac arrest, according to the Vatican.

In the early morning of Easter Monday, Pope Francis suffered a stroke, followed by a coma. The former head of the Catholic Church then went into irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse and died at 88 years old, according to the Vatican.

POPE FRANCIS REVEALED BURIAL WISHES JUST DAYS AFTER BECOMING POPE IN 2013

His final public appearance was on Easter Sunday, when he provided blessings to crowds of faithful at St. Peter’s Square.

On Feb. 14, 2025, Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he received a medical diagnosis of double pneumonia and remained hospitalized for 38 days.

What to expect the week of Pope Francis’ funeral?

On Tuesday morning, around 60 Catholic cardinals held their first meeting since Pope Francis’s death, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. local time in Rome.

The meeting began with a prayer for the deceased pontiff. The high-ranking priests swore to obey the rules of the funeral plans that Pope Francis made last year. Finally, Bergoglio’s final will and testament were read.

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Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025, the day after Easter Sunday. (Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

He requested that the tomb read only «Franciscus,» with no mention of his 12-year papacy, a unique shift from the burial places of past popes.

On Monday in Rome, a rosary service was held for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti.

Beginning Wednesday at 9 a.m. local time (03:00 ET) and continuing until the funeral, Pope Francis’s body will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica, where mourners can pay their respects.

The procession of Pope Francis’s body will pass through Santa Marta Square, the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs and the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square before entering the Vatican Basilica.

Mourners are welcome to pay their respects at St. Peter’s Basilica in the following days and times:

• Wednesday, April 23, 2025, from 11 a.m. – midnight (0500-1800 ET)
• Thursday, April 24, 2025, from 7 a.m. – midnight (0100-1800 ET)
• Friday, April 25, 2025, from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. (0100-1300 ET)

POPE FRANCIS EMPHASIZED CATHOLICISM GLOBALLY, REACHED BEYOND US, EUROPE INTO IMPOVERISHED NATIONS

Pope Francis is often referred to as «the People’s Pope» and traveled to parts of the world uncommon for popes to visit. (AFP via Getty Images)

What to expect from Pope Francis’ funeral

On Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 10 a.m. local time, Pope Francis’s life will be celebrated during a Mass presided over by His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

Bishops, priests, cardinals, archbishops and patriarchs from around the world will officiate the service.

The events will conclude with the beginning of the Novemdiales, a symbolic and procedural period of nine days of prayer, mourning and remembrance.

Another funeral Mass will be held on Sunday by Italian Cardinal and Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

Pope Francis will be taken to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.

FIRST PHOTOS RELEASED OF POPE FRANCIS IN HIS CASKET; FUNERAL SET FOR SATURDAY

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was from Argentina and the first pope in history from the Global South. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

What does Pope Francis’ will say?

The 266th pontiff revealed his burial wishes just days after being elected in 2013.

«It was his belief that he may not live very long,» Neomi DeAnda, a trained constructive theologian, told Fox News Digital. «He was already in his 70s when he was elected pope, and he wanted to be prepared when God called him home.»

«In the Name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

«Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in the Eternal Life, I wish to express my testamentary will only with regard to the place of my Burial.

«I have always entrusted my life and the priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest waiting for the day of the resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

TRUMP WILL ATTEND POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL IN ROME DESPITE CONTENTIOUS PAST: ‘LOOK FORWARD TO BEING THERE!’

Pope Francis’ life will be celebrated in Rome on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (The Associated Press)

«I want my last earthly journey to end in this ancient sanctuary Mariano where I went for prayer at the beginning and end of each Apostolic Journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and thank Her for the docile and maternal care.

«I ask that my tomb be prepared in the hole of the aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica as Indicated in the attached annex.

«The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decorum and with the only inscription: Franciscus.

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«The expenses for the preparation of my burial will be covered with the sum of the benefactor who I have arranged, to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and of which I have provided to give appropriate instructions to Mons. Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Chapter Liberian.

«May the Lord give the well-deserved reward to those who have loved me and will continue to pray for me. The suffering that was made in the last part of my life I offered to the Lord for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.»

Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor snapped at each other during Tuesday’s arguments over parental rights in LGBTQ curriculum after the liberal justice attempted to jump back into the questioning as Alito was speaking. 

The short quarrel happened as the high court listened to arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which a coalition of parents sought to solidify the right to be informed about and opt their children out of reading LGBTQ-related material in elementary schools — which they argue conflicts with their faith.

«There is a growing heat to the exchanges between the justices. Sotomayor just tried to disagree with Alito’s portrayal and Alito pushed back and asked to allow him to finish,» Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley observed on X.  

Sotomayor initially asked Mahmoud attorney Eric Baxter about a particular book titled «Uncle Bobby’s Wedding» that included a same-sex relationship storyline and whether exposure to same-sex relationships in children’s books could be considered coercion.

PARENTS TELL SCOTUS: LGBTQ STORYBOOKS IN CLASSROOMS CLASH WITH OUR FAITH

«Our parents would object to that,» Baxter responded. 

Sotomayor continued with her line of questioning to further clarify Baxter’s objection to the books. Baxter stated, «Our objections would be even to reading books that violate our client’s religious beliefs.»

Alito then jumped in with additional questions related to the book.

«I’ve read that book as well as a lot of these other books,» Alito began. «Do you think it’s fair to say that all that is done in ‘Uncle Bobby’s Wedding’ is to expose children to the fact that there are men who marry other men?»

Baxter objected to Alito’s question. Alito then said that while the book «has a clear message and a lot of people think it’s a good message,» some with «traditional religious beliefs don’t agree with» it.

As Alito continued with his explanation, Sotomayor jumped in.

«What a minute. The reservation is—» Sotomayor began. 

‘LET US BE THE PARENTS’: SUPREME COURT SHOULD LET PARENTS OPT KIDS OUT OF LGBTQ SCHOOL LESSONS, LAWYER ARGUES

«Can I finish?» Alito said. 

«It has a clear moral message, and it may be a good message. It’s just a message that a lot of religious people disagree with,» Alito finished.

As arguments wrapped, the Supreme Court appeared inclined to agree with the parents.

The short quarrel happened as the high court listened to arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, where a coalition of parents sought to solidify a right to be informed about and opt their children out of reading LGBTQ-related material in elementary schools that they argue conflicts with their faith. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A coalition of Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents with elementary school children in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland brought suit against the school board after it introduced new LGBTQ books into the curriculum as part of the district’s «inclusivity» initiative. 

The curriculum change came after the state of Maryland enacted regulations seeking to promote «educational equity,» according to the petitioner’s brief filed with the high court.

THE SUPREME COURT APPEARS TO SIDE WITH PARENTS IN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY DISPUTE OVER STORYBOOKS

The parents lost both at the district court and the appellate level. The Fourth Circuit held that the parents had not shown how the policy violated the First Amendment.

The case comes at a time when President Donald Trump and his administration have prioritized educational and DEI-related reform upon starting his second term. The Supreme Court has notably also heard oral arguments this past term in other religious liberty and gender-related suits. 

A coalition of Jewish, Christian and Muslim parents with elementary school children in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland brought suit against the school board after it introduced new LGBTQ books into the curriculum as part of the district’s «inclusivity» initiative.  (Becket/Getty Images)

The high court heard oral arguments earlier this month in a suit brought by a Wisconsin-based Catholic charity group’s bid for tax relief. The decision could alter the current eligibility requirements for religious tax exemptions. 

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Fox News’ Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, and David Spunt contributed to this report.