The Apostolic See is Vacant. In other words, the Pope is dead.
Cardinal Farrell, the Camerlengo, announced that Pope Francis died this morning at 7:35 a.m. local time in Rome.
The Camerlengo is a position appointed by the Pope (during his life) whose responsibilities include confirming the death of the Pope, sealing the Apostolic Palace (e.g. Pope’s office and, traditionally his residence, though Pope Francis didn’t use it for that), destroying the papal seals, and safeguarding the Pope’s last testament until it can be delivered to the College of Cardinals.
Generally, he oversees the temporal goods of the Church until the College of Cardinals gathers and assumes interim governance.
Tonight, at 8 p.m. local time, according to Vatican news, he will officially declare that Pope Francis is deceased. Traditionally, this is done by calling out the pope’s baptismal name three times (“Jorge”) and gently striking him with a silver hammer. Of course, modern means of confirming death would have already taken place, hence the announcement. His body will be placed in a coffin.
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will likely rest in St. Peter’s Basilica starting on Wednesday morning, but that’s to be officially determined by the first Congregation of Cardinals—that is, the first gathering of the Cardinals during this time.
The rest of the Vatican is, generally speaking, closed. The heads of all of the various Roman curial offices cease to exist during this time, with a couple of exceptions. The Camerlengo, obviously, still has work to do. The Major Penitentiary, the Almoner of His Holiness, and the Roman Rota continue their roles. The various offices of the Holy See with a secretary can continue their “ordinary” operations, but I wouldn’t expect much from the Holy See during this time.
The Major Penitentiary leads the Apostolic Penitentiary, which is the Vatican office responsible for matters of the “internal forum,” or in other words, things that concern individual Christians and their relationship with God. Some sins or blockers to receive a sacrament, for example, have absolution reserved for the Holy See, which is delegated to the Major Penitentiary. So, if you need to appeal to Rome for something in this category, the Pope’s death does not hinder this.
The Almoner of His Holiness is responsible for the Pope’s charity work. That’ll continue as normal.
The Roman Rota is the highest appellate court of the Holy See. With some exceptions, their competence is when a court of the first instance and a court of the second instance disagree (e.g., a diocesan tribunal and a metropolitan tribunal). A typical example is an annulment within the Church. If the local diocesan tribunal rules to nullify and the metropolitan tribunal does not, then the Rota hears the appeal. They aren’t the highest court—that’s the Signatura—but after the Rota, the Signatura will overturn only if there was a procedural fault in the Rota’s work (at least generally, with a legal system as old as the Catholic Church’s, there is likely always an edge case somewhere).
Like all other curial positions that have ceased, the new pope must confirm or reappoint these positions.
On a liturgical note, it is an interesting time. Usually, churches hold a Mass for the deceased pope as soon as possible after hearing the news of his death. Since we are in the Octave of Easter, such Masses are typically not allowed; only funerals are permitted. The Octave being of such high importance, I would defer a lot of the outward mourning until the end of the Octave, or at least to the day of the funeral.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
h/t to Paul Madrid for calling out my lack of including the Rota in the original post. It’s helpful to have an expert in canon law around! 😄
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