INTERNACIONAL
Mexican sewage gushing into Navy SEAL training waters is US’ ‘next Camp Lejeune,’ vets warn
«Disgusting,» said Navy SEAL veteran Rob Sweetman in describing the smell and mist of Mexican sewage spewing into U.S. waters as he stood on a hill overlooking the Tijuana River estuary in California.
Sweetman, a Navy veteran who served on the SEALs for eight years, spoke to Fox News Digital to sound the alarm on a water crisis rocking the San Diego area, including where SEALs train, taking a camera with him to show viewers firsthand how the contaminated water flows into the U.S.
Just one mile away from where Sweetman spoke, SEALs and candidates train in the same water, which has sickened more than 1,000 candidates in a five-year period, per a Department of Defense watchdog report released in February.
San Diego and the surrounding area are in a clean-water crisis that has raged for decades, but it is finding revived concern from the Trump administration as SEALs and local veterans warn of a «national security crisis» that they say is on par with the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, water crisis.
Thousands of Marines and others were sickened at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune base between 1953 and 1987 as a result of water contaminated by industrial solvents used to drink, bathe and cook at the training facilities and on-base housing.
EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN
The Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) class participates in a surf passage training exercise at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, California. (Getty Images)
Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm — which advocates for disabled veterans and those navigating the VA’s complicated health system — told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview, «San Diego County is as big as some states. It’s giant. Millions of people live here and are breathing the air of this water. It goes well beyond the military. It’s a crisis. It’s a FEMA-level travesty, and we have just been hiding it.»
The Navy has deep roots in the San Diego area, with the United States Naval Special Warfare Command headquartered in America’s Finest City and where Navy SEAL candidates complete their arduous six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.
Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone. (Jeff Gum)
The sewage problem flowing from neighboring Mexico into the U.S. has percolated in San Diego for years.
But the water crisis hit crisis level when it was reported in 2024 that 44 billion gallons of contaminated water imbued with raw sewage was released along the California coast in 2023, the most on record since at least 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
The issue of sewage water flowing into U.S. waters is largely attributed to outdated wastewater infrastructure across the southern border, local media outlets recently reported, with Mexico reportedly in the midst of addressing its infrastructure to curb the leaks of sewage water.
The Tijuana River has for decades been plagued by sewage and waste that has affected its beaches and neighboring San Diego.
In February, the Department of Defense’s inspector general released a report finding that the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone.
Navy SEAL trainees are shown during Hell Week. (Getty Images)
«Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water occurred because (Naval Special Warfare Command) did not follow San Diego County’s Beach and Bay Water Quality Program’s beach closure postings,» the inspector general report found. «As a result of Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water during training, candidates are presented with increased health risks and NAVSPECWARCOM’s training mission could be impacted.»
‘IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers’
It was when Monroe, who is well-versed with veteran health through VetComm, was working with SEALs who were retiring that she realized the severity of the San Diego water pollution of the past few years.
She observed an increase in health claims related to intestinal issues and «weird cancers,» which was a departure from typical claims related to PTSD or orthopedic ailments.
US SENATOR BLASTS PRESIDENT OF MEXICO, SAYS TOXIC SEWAGE DUMP THREATENS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’
«I started creating relationships with the SEAL teams, the people that were exiting the SEALs, you know, at 14 years, 20 years, nearing their retirement,» Monroe told Fox News Digital. «And the claims that we were making for these guys were surprising to me because a lot of them, they have combat PTSD, a lot of orthopedic issues. But we were having guys coming to us with, like, IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers, and they were all attributing it to their time spent in San Diego training to be a SEAL in that water here that we have in San Diego.»
Swimming and spending time in water contaminated with feces can lead to a host of illnesses, including bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that leave people nauseous, vomiting and rushing to the bathroom.
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum was only days from entering the SEAL’s aptly named Hell Week — the fourth week of basic conditioning for SEAL candidates — when nausea hit him. He was trapped in a cycle of drinking water and vomiting when he realized a serious illness had its grips on him.
Gum is a retired SEAL who served from 2007 to 2017 and was exposed to the contaminated water in 2008 during BUD/S training off the San Diego coast.
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum (Jeff Gum)
«I couldn’t stop,» Gum recounted of how he couldn’t keep water down without vomiting. «You never really want to go to medical because they can pull you out or make you get rolled to the next class, but I couldn’t even drink water without throwing up. It’s the only time in my whole life that this has happened.»
Gum’s nausea overcame him on a Friday in 2008, with Hell Week kicking off that Sunday night. Hell Week is a more than five-day training that puts candidates through rigorous training, including cold-water immersion, «surf torture,» buoy swims, mud runs, all while operating on minimal sleep.
SAN DIEGO SUBURB FACES ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FROM LOCAL BEACH
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum in Iraq. (Jeff Gum)
«The sun goes down, and the instructors come out with big machine guns, that kicks it off,» Gum said of how Hell Week began. «We run out to the beach, right into the ocean. You spend the rest of the week soaking wet, covered in sand. And everywhere you go, you have a 200-pound boat on your head that you and your boat crew of six to seven guys will share the weight of, and you just run everywhere.»
Hell Week training for the SEALs includes carrying boats. (Getty Images)
«You’re just in the water. There’s no escaping it. It’s part of what makes BUD/S BUD/S. And it’s part of what makes the Navy SEALs America’s premier maritime special operators,» he said. «There’s not getting around how comfortable we have to be in the water. Cold, wet, miserable, doesn’t matter, we suck it up and we do it.»
MEXICO IS POISONING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN A BORDER CRISIS ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT
Gum received IVs the weekend ahead of Hell Week and was able to keep food and water down by the time the intense training began, but he had been diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis, commonly known as the stomach flu and highly contagious, which then morphed into rhabdomyolysis due to exerting so much energy while dehydrated from viral gastroenteritis
Rhabdomyolysis is a serious illness that causes muscle to break down quickly and can lead to «muscle death» and the release of high levels of myoglobin in the blood that can injure a person’s kidneys.
The border fence between Imperial Beach near San Ysidro, California, right, and Playas de Tijuana near Tijuana, Mexico. (Getty Images)
Gum failed the first phase of BUD/S, but he was granted permission to return to training for a second time after senior leaders saw he had viral gastroenteritis. Gum again went through the first phase of BUD/S, but again he went to medical, where tests showed that his «blood came back toxic» from rhabdomyolysis.
The SEAL was put on medical leave and able to fully recover in his home state of Pennsylvania before he «crushed» the hellish training on his third try. He served on SEAL Team Five, deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, and taught combatives and prisoner handling to SEAL trainees in San Diego from 2013 until his retirement in 2017.
Sweetman told Fox Digital that «everyone who goes through training is going to get sick.»
Tijuana, Mexico, top, and San Diego (Getty Images)
«They’re going to get infections, and it’s terrible,» Sweetman told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview. «And some might argue that this is Navy SEAL training. You have to go through the toughest conditions to be able to survive and make it. I would say that it’s gotten a little bit out of hand.»
The SEAL vet, who lives in the San Diego area, said the issue has gotten worse in recent years as Tijuana’s population grows.
I TRAINED WITH THE NAVY SEALS FOR A DAY. THIS IS WHAT I LEARNED
«When I went through training, it was absolutely a thing that they’d shut down the Imperial Beach because the ocean water was so bad, because the waste coming from Tijuana had infected the water,» Sweetman said. «You could always smell it. And oftentimes, even in the bay, we’d need to wash our wet suit after being out on a swim.»
Rob Sweetman served eight years as a Navy SEAL. (Rob Sweetman)
«Now, some of the training causes us to be deeply immersed in the water, and infections and all types of things can come up from being in the water. But I’ll say that it has gotten significantly worse as the population has doubled in Tijuana.»
Raw sewage from Tijuana is flowing into the San Diego area, causing illness to spread among SEALs and candidates. (Rob Sweetman)
‘A huge national crisis’
Gum and Monroe both said that water issue is a crisis, with Gum identifying it as a national security crisis that could cull well-suited candidates from the SEALs due to acute illnesses as well as sicken active SEALs.
«This is a huge national crisis,» he said. «Like half the SEAL teams are located in San Diego, the other half are in Virginia Beach. So when you’ve got half the SEAL teams who are getting exposed to this, then it’s a major issue.»
Monroe called it the «next Camp Lejeune» crisis, which sickened Marines with contaminated drinking water at the North Carolina Marine Corps base camp for nearly three decades. The crisis has cost the U.S. billions of dollars, including legal costs and settlements to vets and their families.
«This is going to be, in my opinion, the next Camp Lejeune water problem that cost our government $21 to $25 billion,» she said. «That’s just in the compensation directly, like the lawsuit portion of it. That doesn’t cover all the compensation you have to pay these veterans tax-free for the rest of their lives. I would say that this issue here in San Diego, if you look at it over the time that people have been training here, you’re looking at another $21 to $25 billion, plus all of the compensation that’s going to come. It would be cheaper for our country to fix this than it would to allow it to continue.»
The three veterans who spoke to Fox Digital all responded with optimism that the Trump administration will tackle the crisis and end it.
WILL CAIN, NAVY SEALS HONORS VETERANS AT 2024 NYC SEAL SWIM
Fox Digital exclusively reported earlier in April that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is heading to San Diego to meet with SEALs and see the crisis firsthand April 22, 2025.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is heading to San Diego to meet with SEALs and see the water firsthand April 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«The raw sewage flowing from Mexico into the Tijuana River is creating serious, detrimental issues for communities with affected waterways,» Zeldin told Fox Digital ahead of the Tuesday trip.
«Ensuring America’s waters are clean is part of EPA’s core mission, and I look forward to being on the ground in San Diego in a few days to assess the situation and hear directly from those affected,» he said. «It is top-of-mind knowing that as this issue persists, more and more Navy SEALs remain at risk of sickness because of the contaminated waterways they train in. I strongly believe the time has come to finalize and implement an urgent strategy to end decades of raw sewage entering the U.S.»
BUD/S students participate in SEAL training at the Naval Special Warfare Center, Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare added in a comment to Fox News Digital that SEALs and candidates’ health are a top priority and that officials are monitoring water quality in areas where they train.
«The Navy takes the health and safety of our personnel very seriously,» the spokesperson said. «Water quality at Navy training locations on the beach waterfront is closely monitored in coordination with local authorities. We are fully committed to ensuring warfighters at U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command train in a safe environment.»
Mexican sewage flows into the U.S. (Rob Sweetman)
Ahead of Zeldin’s visit, the water flowing from Mexico into the U.S. is as «nasty» as ever, according to Sweetman.
«What I see here is a tremendous amount of green, nasty water,» Sweetman said while pointing at the murky water. «I mean, you can smell it. This is disgusting. As it pours through, it doesn’t clear up. There’s no clarity to it. It just turns into a foam. And the foam sits on top of the water where it’s murky and it just continues to flow towards Imperial Beach and the ocean down here.»
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«It’s absolutely disgusting. I can’t comment strongly enough about how bad it is to be here. I’m here specifically because I want people to see just how bad it is,» he said. «The moment that I leave here, I’m going to go take a shower.»
US Navy,California,Mexico,MILITARY,National Security,Politics,Donald Trump,Lee Zeldin
Lo peor que nos puede pasar es que los años pasen y nosotros como si nada. Seguir siendo los mismos salames. Ya lo dijo Eladia Blázquez: “No, permanecer y transcurrir, no es perdurar, no es existir, ni honrar la vida. Hay tantas maneras de no ser, tanta conciencia sin saber, adormecida”. Hermosa y sabia compositora argentina. Y fue hace poco que me reencontré con su música, de la mano de Fermín Prieto, increíble tenor del Teatro Colón, en una gala en el Palacio Paz. Y entonces, el interrogante: ¿estaremos honrando la vida?
Justo, por esos días, leía al filósofo francés Francois Jullien, recomendación de un psicoanalista a quien aprecio y respeto mucho. Una segunda vida, editado por Cuenco de Plata y traducido por Silvio Mattoni, está dedicado a “quien sabe leer por segunda vez” y es una invitación a la relectura, la retoma y el reenganche con la vida. “Por qué sigo viviendo? (…) es cierto que a la pregunta brutal y trivial como es, uno puede apresurarse a enterrarla, a adormecerla bajo las preocupaciones diarias. Pero corroe. Uno la lleva consigo”, asegura el autor. Y es verdad. El interrogante del sentido arde a la luz del desconcierto, la desilusión y la poca fe en que algo pueda movernos el amperímetro. Y esto sucede, sobre todo, hacia la segunda mitad de la vida, esa misma segunda vida que el francés quiere vendernos en este audaz escrito de apenas 156 páginas. Y lo consigue.
“No tenemos más que una vida, es algo evidente. No podemos salir de nuestra vida y volver a entrar. (…) No tenemos vida de recambio o de repuesto. (…) La vida no puede ser jugada de nuevo, no es una partida que podemos volver a empezar. (…) Entonces: ¿en qué medida podré recomenzar a vivir, pero en la misma continuidad de mi vida? Esa segunda vida no puede ser más que esta vida, desde el momento en que no existe otra, al mismo tiempo que se disocia lo suficiente de ella, prolongándose de manera que un nuevo comienzo pueda esbozarse”, explica Jullien en el primer capítulo. Y son 9. Así que, ¡agárrate!
Así las cosas, estimados y mientras avanzo en la lectura frenética, y subrayo frases o párrafos completos- de manera compulsiva-, tengo la ilusión de que esas palabras aniden en mi cerebro y en mi alma. Quiero tenerlas ahí por siempre. Es que las necesito y mucho. Porque: ¿quién no se ilusiona con la posibilidad de una segunda vida? Pero no. Año nuevo, vida nueva y todas esas pavadas, no. No se refiere a eso. Es otra cosa, dado que ese “nuevo comienzo” viene de la “inmanencia de la misma vida, pero que se ha elaborado hasta ese punto, se ha reflexionado y se vuelve concertada, porque ha madurado una decisión, que creció, se fortaleció, y sobre la cual uno podrá calzarse cada vez mejor para separarse un poco de sí mismo, de la adhesividad al propio pasado, y reemprender su vida. (…) Nuestra vida se vuelve a pensar, se relanza, desprende nuevas posibilidades”. Me encanta. Pero: ¿se podrá?
“Es solo por decantación de nuestra experiencia y por la distancia tomada con respecto a lo que ésta no deja de implicar y de imponer, de contener, que algo se permite estar más cerca de una iniciativa. (…) al empezar a volver sobre la vida pasada, nos acercamos más a esa capacidad de iniciar. (…) será en la reanudación de la propia vida que tal vez se corrija lo que se había elegido mal, pero sobre todo que se ponga en condiciones, por la distancia adquirida, de poder elegir lo que no lo había sido antes”, continua el filósofo. Algo así como retomar lo que dejamos atrás y darle una nueva leída. Que todo eso sirva para algo. Que podamos traerlo a la conciencia. Que se transforme en el insumo y no en el lastre. Una relectura de nuestra existencia que sirva de trampolín para dar inicio a lo que uno se proponga de ahora en más. Porque depende exclusivamente de cada uno. Y en este punto creo que todos estamos de acuerdo: para estar mejor hay que poder registrar y solo después de eso, remar.
No es magia. Es transformarse a partir de las “verdades decantadas”. Y también, y lo más evidente, es que podremos hacerlo al considerar nuestra propia muerte como la única certeza absoluta. La conciencia de muerte es lo que nos corre, además del tiempo. “Filosofar es aprender a vivir: a partir del momento en que uno efectivamente puso su muerte delante de sí, como un cráneo sobre su mesa, uno ha entrado ipso facto en una segunda vida. La primera vida es aquella en la que mirar de frente la propia muerte se evita. La segunda vida, en cambio, es aquella que se abre debido a que comencé a plantear mi muerte como cumplimiento. Porque a partir de allí se define una segunda etapa por vivir”.
Jullien plantea una diferencia importante entre la “segunda vida” y la vejez (porque no es una condición cronológica), y entre la segunda vida y la sabiduría (porque el paso del tiempo no asegura nada: hay viejos sabios, pero también hay viejos nabos). Y también dice que pasar de la primera a la segunda vida no tiene por qué ser dramático ni ruidoso. El filósofo francés lo plantea más bien como un “proceso silencioso” y gradual. Pero pasa lo siguiente: esta oportunidad no es para cualquiera y no se compra de manera virtual. Porque no todos tenemos las ganas, la visión, la voluntad o el registro que requiere poder disfrutar de un nuevo comienzo, como continuidad de la vida que veníamos transitando. Pero y entonces: ¿cómo se hace? “¡Nadaremos, nadaremos!”, decía Dory en Buscando a Nemo, “Y qué hay que hacer? Nadar, nadar, nadar”. Y me parece que la cosa es por ahí. Bucear. Remar. Y remar mucho. Y hacerlo, según revela el filósofo, con experiencia, lucidez y desprendimiento. Y a cada una de esas condiciones, le dedica un capítulo entero. “Uno deviene lúcido por experiencia y se alcanza procesualmente. La luz viene por sí misma, a partir de todo lo que se ha vivido y atravesado. La lucidez nombra la capacidad de un sujeto que accede a la segunda vida. (…) Fui conducido a ella por las experiencias atravesadas al mismo tiempo que contribuí para que fuera tomada en cuenta. Entonces la lucidez me llega por todo lo vivido. (…) Al disociarnos de la vida segura, percibimos lo que la vida es esencialmente. Enfrentarla y sacar provecho de ella es lo que desemboca en una segunda vida”. Suena difícil pero posible.
Entonces: ¿podremos- más tarde que nunca- no repetirnos sino más bien retomarnos y empezar a re-vivir? Y la respuesta está en el último capítulo, el 9, titulado Relectura, retoma y reenganche. “Cuando uno lee por primera vez, está pendiente del hilo de lo que se lee. Está a la espera de un después, que lleva más lejos. (…) La primera vez que leemos una novela podemos estar atentos a tal descripción de un rostro o de un paisaje (…)”. Pero: ¿qué ocurre con la relectura? Hace que finalmente podamos elegir esa novela. “Porque la relectura no está apurada por dar vuelta la página: la presente es su horizonte suficiente. La relectura se toma su tiempo, se demora, es meditativa- todo importa. (…) Ya no es primaria, estrecha de miras y reactiva, sino que es desprendida. La relectura no es repetición, no reproduce la primera, no la duplica, sino que la despliega”. Y es eso.
El ensayo de François Jullian, acerca de vivir la segunda vida, es una invitación a desplegar la primera. Es retomarme con la confianza de una segunda ocasión, pero esta vez sé más y entiendo mejor de qué forma depende de mí y cómo puedo abordarla. “(…) Es preciso haber dado la vuelta a la vida antes de empezar a vivir. Re vinculándose, releyéndose a medida que avanza, ya no decretada sino develada, (una vida) que comienza selectivamente a elegir con mayor lucidez”. Amén.
♦ Se formó en la Escuela Superior de París y estudió la lengua y el pensamiento chino en las universidades de Pekín y Shanghái. Es doctor en estudios del Lejano Oriente.
♦ Fue presidente de la Asociación francesa de estudios chinos, director del Departamento de estudios asiáticos de la Universidad de Paris VII y presidente del Colegio internacional de filosofía.
♦ Actualmente es profesor en la Universidad de París VII y director del Instituto del pensamiento contemporáneo y el Centro Marcel Granet y miembro senior del Instituto Universitario de Francia.
♦ Dirige L’Agenda de la pensée contemporaine, de la editorial Flammarion, además de ser consultor de empresas occidentales interesadas en establecerse en China.
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
Here’s what’s happening…
-Pandemic, price tags and privacy concerns: Why it took 20 years to implement REAL ID
-DHS chief’s purse stolen with thousands of dollars
-Ex-Pentagon aide urges Trump to fire Hegseth citing ‘full-blown meltdown’ and ‘total chaos’
Hilton to Tackle ‘Califailure’ in Bid for Golden State Governor
EXCLUSIVE: The California 2026 gubernatorial race just got a major shakeup with Republican Steve Hilton entering the race to be Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successor.
The former Fox News contributor and author of «Califailure» said he’s hoping to «Make California Golden Again,» especially for the «working people» of the state.
«A big decision that I’ve made, which I can now share with you, that I am, in fact, going to be running for governor of California for 2026. I love this state. It’s the best place in the world as far as I’m concerned,» Hilton told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview…Read more
Steve Hilton is joining the race to succeed California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Fox News/Screenshot/Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)
Remembering Pope Francis
BREAKING: Pope Francis has died at 88, Vatican camerlengo says
‘MAY GOD BLESS HIM’: Pope Francis and U.S. presidents: A look back at his legacy with the nation’s leaders
POPULAR PONTIFF: What American Catholics thought about Pope Francis
FINAL FAREWELL: JD Vance, one of Pope Francis’ last visitors, reacts to his death
CHOOSING THE NEXT POPE: What is the papal conclave: Inside the ancient process of choosing the next pope
A faithful holds a portrait of late Pope Francis at the Basilica de San José de Flores, where he worshiped as a youth, following the Vatican’s announcement of his death in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Gustavo Garello/AP)
‘I WAS SURPRISED’: Theologian on ‘Conclave’ accuracy, expectations for next secretive event after Pope Francis’ death
‘GOD REST HIS SOUL!’: Trump, world leaders react to the death of Pope Francis
BURIAL GROUNDS: Pope Francis revealed burial wishes just days after becoming pope in 2013
SCALED-DOWN MEMORIAL: Pope Francis’ funeral will be a simplified version of past papal funerals, per his change of papal funeral rites
Pope Francis during the impartation of the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing and wishes «good Easter» from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, April 20, 2024, in Rome, Italy. (Stefano Spaziani/Europa Press via Getty Images)
White House
MONEY CAN’T BUY EVERYTHING: Trump wants to revive the lagging US shipbuilding industry. Here are the hurdles he faces
‘SHATTERED EGOS’: White House rips alleged Pentagon leasers, brushes off Hegseth second Signal chat report
STRIKE TWO?: Hegseth shared details of Yemen strikes in second Signal chat: report
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
14TH WEEK BACK IN OVAL: Trump’s 14th week in office to kick off with famed Easter Egg Roll, ongoing trade negotiations
OVERBLOWN: Biden green energy project halted by Trump admin relied on rushed, bad science, study finds
World Stage
KEEPING TABS: Anti-Chinese government group launches plan to track anti-CCP legislation in statehouses
IRAN REMAINS NUCLEAR: US confirms third round of nuclear talks with Iran after ‘very good progress’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks on during a meeting with a group of Iranian women in Tehran, Iran, December 17, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Capitol Hill
‘WRONGFULLY DETAINED’: Four more Dems travel to El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia’s return to US
Across America
COMMANDER NO MORE: Army suspends commander after Trump, Vance, Hegseth vanish from command board
‘MISLEADING AND MISGUIDED’: State Dept defends human rights abuse reporting changes, says streamlined process eliminates ‘political bias’
CHURCH AND STATE: Religious liberty or government overreach? Oklahoma AG fights own party in SCOTUS battle over Catholic school
‘BROKEN SYSTEM’: More than 500k immigrants missed their court hearings on Biden’s watch: analysis
A new report by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed that there were fewer apprehensions at the southern border in the entire month of March than there were in the first two days of the month in 2024 under the Biden administration. (John Moore/Getty Images)
‘PURGE THESE PEOPLE’: California mayor wants to give homeless people ‘all the fentanyl they want’
SKY WARS: Florida property owners pestered by spying drones could soon be allowed to fight back with ‘force’
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Elections Newsletter
INTERNACIONAL
Pope Francis’ funeral will be simplified version of past papal funerals, per his change of papal funeral rites
The funeral for Pope Francis will include many long-held traditions, but will also eschew some of the more intricate customs after the pope amended the Catholic Church’s papal funeral rights.
Francis died Monday at age 88, the Vatican announced.
While much of the tradition associated with papal funerals – which dates all the way back to ancient Rome – will continue, matters such as Francis’ coffin structure, his death verification process, burial location, and how he will be viewed and referred to during the ceremony, will be different from how it has been in the past.
Francis, who had battled pneumonia for weeks before being released from the hospital and appearing on Easter Sunday, had faced health complications for many years and had to have half of one of his lungs removed as a young person.
POPE FRANCIS’ MEDICAL CONDITION: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BILATERAL PNEUMONIA
Pope Francis greets cardinals as he unexpectedly appears during the Palm Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, April 13, 2025. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)
Francis’ move to change these papal funeral traditions, some of which date all the way back to ancient Rome, stemmed from a desire to emphasize that the pope is «that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world,» according to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the head of papal liturgical ceremonies who reportedly worked with Francis to help make the revisions. The rewrite was also preceded by the unusual circumstances of Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral, which deviated from traditional papal funerals on account of the fact he was a retired pope rather than a reigning one.
The new funeral rites were formally approved by Francis in 2023 and were later published in the church’s liturgical guidelines in early 2024. Around the same time he was working on these revisions, the pope revealed during an interview with a Spanish-language broadcaster that he would not be buried in the grottoes of the Vatican like his predecessors, but rather at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome. The new papal rights make it permissible for future popes to be buried outside the Vatican as well.
POPE FRANCIS DEAD AT 88, VATICAN SAYS
In addition to the different burial location, the new papal funeral rites have amended the way the pope will be viewed by the public following his death. In the past, the pope’s body would be displayed on an elevated frame known as a bier. But, under the new funeral structure, the pope will be laid directly into an open coffin, eliminating the use of the bier. Pope Francis also eliminated the practice of being buried in three coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.
The location of where Francis would be declared deceased changed too. It went from taking place in the papal bedroom to now inside the papal chapel located at the Vatican. The new rules also require that Pope Francis’ remains be immediately put into a simplistic wooden-lined coffin after he is determined to have passed.
Incense is cast over the coffin of Pope John Paul II by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during the funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 8, 2005 in Vatican City. Cardinals under the age of 80 will start the conclave on April 18 where a new Pope will be elected. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Confirming the death of the Pope is the job of the camerlengo, a senior clergy member who manages the Vatican during transition periods between Popes. That position is currently occupied by Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who said Monday, «With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.»
POPE BENEDICT’S VISION OF CATHOLICISM, VATICAN II, AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH ENDURE THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS
Another notable change includes how the pope will be referenced during the ceremony following his death. Rather than being referenced by past titles he has obtained as a clergy leader in the Catholic Church, officials will mostly use Latin terms for «pope,» «bishop,» or «pastor.»
Archbishop Stanislaw Dsiwisz (Right) places a white veil over the face of late Pope John Paul II as Archbishop Piero Marini looks on, prior to closing the coffin for burial in the grottos beneath St. Peter’s Basilica April 8, 2005 at the Vatican. The grottoes form a cramped underground cemetery beneath St. Peter’s Basilica where pontiffs throughout the ages, royals and even an emperor have been laid to rest. (Photo by Osservatore Romano-Pool/Getty Images)
Archbishop Ravelli said during a 2024 presentation of the revised papal funeral rights that a new edition was reflective of Francis’ view, stated on several occasions Ravelli said, «of the need to simplify and adapt certain rites so that the celebration of the funeral of the Bishop of Rome may better express the faith of the Church in the Risen Christ.»
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Before the new edition of the papal rites was formally passed, the church followed the guidelines in the «Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis» approved in 1998 by Saint John Paul II and published two years later, according to The National Catholic Register.
Those guidelines were used for Pope John Paul II’s 2005 funeral, but was modified to meet the unusual circumstances of Pope Benedict XVI’s passing.
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