Live updates: Pope Francis' funeral is set to begin
Pope Francis will be laid to rest Saturday following a funeral mass at St. Peter's Square attended by presidents, princes and as many as a quarter-million more.
The leader of the Catholic church died Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke.
Update:
Date: 2025-04-26 06:56:33
Title:
As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend
Content: While dignitaries will be on hand, prisoners and migrants will usher Pope Francis Saturday into the basilica where he will be buried, reflecting his priorities as pope.
Francis is breaking with recent tradition and will be buried in the St. Mary Major Basilica, where a simple underground tomb awaits him with just his name: Franciscus
Update:
Date: 2025-04-26 06:49:55
Title:
Mourners race to find a spot in St. Peter's Square
Content: They streamed Saturday to get a spot in standing room near the rear of the square surrounding the ancient obelisk, behind VIP seating.
Many ran toward the square as barricades opened. Some carried banners for the Jubilee Holy Year that Francis opened in December and will continue despite his death.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pope Leo XIV names new bishop for Archdiocese of Fuzhou, China
June 11 (UPI) -- Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appointed Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Fuzhou, China. "We are pleased to learn that today, on the occasion of the taking possession of the Office of Auxiliary Bishop of Fuzhou by His Excellency Monsignor Joseph Lin Yuntuan, his Episcopal Ministry is also recognized for the purposes of civil law," the Holy See said in a statement. "This event constitutes a further fruit of the dialogue between the Holy See and the Chinese Authorities and is an important step in the journey of communion of the Diocese." The Vatican said that both "the recognition of the civil effects" and taking possession the office occurred Wednesday "in the framework of the dialogue regarding the application of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China." Yuntuan's appointment was made possible by the Sino-Vatican deal signed in September 2024 and renewed for a third time in October 2024. A May 12 Human Rights Watch statement urged the Vatican to review the agreement that allows China to appoint bishops for government-approved houses of worship, subject to Pope Leo's approval. "Pope Leo XIV has an opportunity to make a fresh start with China to protect the religious freedom of China's Catholics," HRW associate China director Maya Wang said in a statement. "The new pope should press for negotiations that could help improve the right to religious practice for everyone in China." Details of the Sino-Vatican deal have never been made public. According to HRW, the agreement with the Vatican was signed during a period of intensified religious repression in China. HRW has urged Leo to press the Chinese government to immediately free several Catholic clergy who have been "imprisoned, forcibly disappeared, or subjected to house arrest and other harassment." Msgr. Joseph Lun Yuntuan is a China-born cleric ordained as a priest April 9, 1984. He was an episcopal delegate for several years and from 2013-2016 he "performed the ministry of Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis." Yuntuan received episcopal ordination Dec. 28, 2017. The metropolitan Archdiocese of Fuzhou was established in 1946. Leo has appointed 15 new bishops in Asia, the United States, Africa, Europe and South America.
Los Angeles Times
8 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Here's what we know about the school shooting in Austria
GRAZ, Austria — A 21-year-old former student opened fire inside his school in Austria's second-biggest city Tuesday morning, killing 10 people, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria's postwar history. Nine students were killed — six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17, one with Polish citizenship — as well as a teacher, police said. Another 11 people were wounded. The attacker killed himself in a bathroom at the BORG Dreierschützengasse school in Graz, officials said. The shooting has triggered a debate about the country's gun laws, which are among the more liberal in the European Union. Investigators said Wednesday they had not been able to draw conclusions on the motive. Here's what we know: Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker expressed shock and sharply condemned the shooting. 'A school is more than just a place of learning,' Stocker said. 'It is a space of trust, of security, of the future. The fact that this safe space was shattered by such an act of violence leaves us speechless.' By Wednesday morning, the authority that runs hospitals in Graz said nine patients were still in intensive care. Police said the wounded people were aged between 15 and 26. Two are Romanian nationals and one is an Iranian citizen. The 21-year-old Austrian man lived near Graz and was a former student at the school who hadn't completed his studies. Police said he used a shotgun and a pistol, which he owned legally. His name was not released in line with Austrian privacy rules. Police said he lived with his mother. Investigators searching his apartment found two farewell messages, a pipe bomb that wouldn't have worked and abandoned plans for a bombing. They didn't elaborate on those findings in a post on social media Wednesday. 'He says goodbye to his parents. But no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter, and that is a matter for further investigations,' Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria's Interior Ministry, told ORF public television Tuesday night. Officials said they're looking at whether people were targeted or shot at random. Stocker has announced three days of national mourning. The country stopped for a moment of silence Wednesday morning, marking a day since the attack. Hundreds of people lined the central square in Graz, a city of 300,000. Some laid candles and flowers in front of city hall. Some people hugged each other as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy. Hundreds joined Austrian officials at a service Tuesday evening in the Graz cathedral. In the capital, Vienna, the local transport authority had trams, subway trains and buses stop for a minute. Pope Leo XIV prayed for the victims and their families in the predominantly Catholic country, telling his weekly general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday that he prayed that 'the Lord receive these his children into his peace.' Traditionally, many people in Austria hold weapons, which they often use to go hunting in the Alpine country's vast forests. In general, it's more common to carry a weapon for that and less for self-defense. According to the Small Arms Survey, Austria ranks 12th in the world when it comes to holding civilian firearms, with 30 firearms per 100 residents. That's far less than in the U.S. which tops the ranking with 120 firearms per 100 residents, but more than Austria's neighbor Germany, which ranked 23rd with 19 firearms per 100 residents. In Austria, some weapons, such as rifles and shotguns that must be reloaded manually after each shot, can be purchased from the age of 18 without a permit. Gun dealers only need to check if there's no weapons ban on the buyer, and the weapon is added to the central weapons register. Other weapons, such as repeating shotguns or semi-automatic firearms, are more difficult to acquire. Buyers need a gun ownership card and a firearms pass. Austria Press Agency reported Wednesday that the suspect had a gun ownership card, but this document merely entitles a holder to acquire and possess, but not to carry weapons such as the handgun. That weapon also would have required a firearm pass.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
China gets new Catholic bishop, as Pope Leo continues deal over appointments
(Amends paragraphs 7,9 to change to the bishop's surname) By Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -A new assistant Catholic bishop was installed on Wednesday for Fuzhou, the capital of China's southeastern Fujian province, signalling that the Vatican's accord with Beijing over Catholic bishop appointments will continue under Pope Leo. Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan, 73, was appointed by Leo within the framework of a diplomatic deal originally struck in 2018 that gives Chinese officials some input into papal appointments. Michel Chambon, an academic who has written extensively on the Chinese Church, said Wednesday's installation indicates that both parties want to continue with the accord. "It is a willingness to support reconciliation instead of antagonism," said Chambon, a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute in Singapore. Some conservative Catholics have criticized the Vatican-China deal, which was negotiated under the late Pope Francis. The critics say it gives too much influence to China's ruling communists, who have kept a tight rein on religious practice since taking power in 1949. The Vatican stresses that the pope retains final decision-making power and says the accord resolves a decades-long split between an underground church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association. Lin had previously been ordained a bishop in the underground church in 2017. The Vatican said in a brief statement that it had "learned with satisfaction" that his role had been officially recognised by the government. "This event constitutes another fruit of the dialogue between the Holy See and Chinese authorities and is a significant step," it said. As part of Wednesday's ceremony, Lin swore to abide by Chinese laws and to safeguard social harmony, according to a report on social media provided by the Catholic Patriotic Association. Across China there are about 5 million Catholics in a total population of 1.4 billion, the Vatican estimates. The Vatican and China last renewed their accord in October 2024, for a further period of four years. The text of the deal has never been published, but only described by diplomatic officials.
