By Louise Doyle
HUNDREDS of thousands of people will attend Pope Francis’ funeral tomorrow in St Peter’s Square at 10am, while closer to home many households across the county will watch the proceedings on television to bid farewell to the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church.
Mourners have been paying their respects to Pope Francis, whose body was moved from his Vatican residence to St Peter’s Basilica before his funeral on Saturday, April 24.
The Pope’s open coffin was carried on Wednesday morning in a solemn procession through St Peter’s Square where as many as 20,000 pilgrims had gathered.
The Pope died on Monday aged 88 following a stroke and a battle with double pneumonia, which led to him spending five weeks in hospital earlier this year. Pope Francis had held the role for 12 years.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the Mass, which will be concelebrated by Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and priests from across the globe.
The late Pope’s body will then be taken into St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for entombment, which has a special link to Donegal. In April of last year, Monsignor Eamonn McLaughlin was installed as a Canon for the Chapter of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
Monsignor McLaughlin was one of seven clergymen to take possession of their Office during the celebration of II Vespers on Sunday, 28 April, 2024. They then concelebrated the Eucharistic celebration.
The basilica is home to the icon of Our Lady, Protection of the Roman People and the oldest church in the west dedicated to Our Lady. Pope Francis had expressed his wish to be buried in the Basilica, instead of St Peter’s in the Vatican, due to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Six popes are buried in the Marian Basilica.
Monsignor McLaughlin is a native of Downings in the parish of Mevagh. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Boyce in 2002 and went on to serve in the Raphoe Diocese as a Curate in Fintown, Lettermacaward and Doochary and as a Curate in St. Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny.
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