Friends, Romans, countrymen: a papal funeral is more than the burial of a body

Fr James Bradley• April 25, 2025

It might be thought to be stating the obvious, but before electing a new pope the Church has to bury the last. The papal funeral is first of all about offering a fitting burial for the deceased pontiff, recognizing not just his dignity as a simple Christian, but also the high office he held. It also has important external, even juridical, significance for the whole Church.

In a monarchy with a line of succession, the cry “The King is dead, long live the King,” not only announces the death of the sovereign, but also the immediate transition of power to his successor. In the case of the papacy, there is no such direct continuity. The election of the new pope has to take place, which means that there must be a certain verification of the vacancy of the Petrine office before this can even be contemplated, let alone carried out.

This is one of the ceremonial purposes of the rather elaborate funeral rites that are still reserved for the pope today. There is a sense in which they are of course modelled on the funerals of every Christian, because every pope is first of all a member of the faithful who deserves a reverent and decent funeral, and who needs commending to Almighty God by the Church. But there are also distinctive rituals proper to the death of the Roman Pontiff that “announce” (as it were) the death of the pope, and the vacancy of the papal office, so as to permit the election of the next pope in a free and legitimate way.

Historically, this was very important indeed. In the eleventh century, Gregory VII’s (c.1015-85) enemies challenged the legitimacy of his pontificate by claiming he had been elected before his predecessor, Alexander II (d.1073), had even been buried. While Honorius II (1060-1130) was still alive, the process of electing his successor began with such earnest that the result was a determination binding on future generations: attempted elections before the burial of the last pope would lead to excommunication.

All of this confusion went back to the seventh century, when during his nine-month papacy Boniface III (February-November 607) had decreed that the election of a pope could not begin before his successor was dead. But doubt about the Latin word depositio (which could mean dead, rather than more specifically buried) in Boniface’s legislation left this open to challenge. The Lateran Synod of 1059 confirmed Boniface III’s earlier text, but it was only a little later that it was clarified to say burial (sepultura).

This is also where the idea of a very public papal funeral came in. When Celestine III died in 1198, there was an attempt to get moving with the process to elect Lothar of Segni, who would go on to become Innocent III (1161-1216). Lothar, however, wanted to be present at the papal funeral in Old St Peter’s, so that he could be seen to be honouring the man who would become his predecessor, and so avoid any possible challenges to his motives or, still worse, to his actual election.

We see vestiges of all of this in the papal funeral rites even today. The public attestation of the death of the Roman Pontiff by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, the convening of the cardinals to be present in Rome for the funeral rites, the lying-in-state of the deceased pope, the elaborate processions not just through St Peter’s Basilica, but outside in the Square: all of these point to the public, liturgical-juridical nature of the papal funeral ceremonies, which are as much about giving due reverence to the deceased Vicar of Christ, as making a very public display of his death so as to avoid any challenges to the election of his successor.

Even in today’s world, this has value real value, as the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI – and the several clarifications about the Office of Pope Emeritus that followed – revealed. Pope Francis’s funeral will introduce some modest simplifications to the papal funeral rites. But these can only ever go so far. The Church needs not just the opportunity to mourn her Holy Father and commend him to God in prayer, but also the more human experience of seeing the transition to the next papacy begin to take place before her very eyes.

Father James Bradley is Assistant Professor of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he teaches Liturgical and Sacramental Law.

Photo: Late Pope Francis lies in state in a coffin at St Peter’s Basilica at The Vatican, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)