Forward of his lying-in-state, Pope Francis’s physique was made prepared to resist Rome’s heat spring climate with a brief embalming and a contact of make-up, an skilled informed AFP.
The physique of the 88-year-old, who died on Monday, might be on show for 3 days in Saint Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday earlier than his funeral on Saturday.
With 1000’s of worshippers anticipated to queue as much as bid him farewell, steps have been taken to keep away from decay, as with earlier popes.
Francis’s physique underwent a brief embalming course of often known as thanatopraxy, in accordance with Andrea Fantozzi, founding father of the Italian Nationwide Institute of Thanatopraxy (INIT).
“It entails the injection of preservative liquids by means of the circulatory system, adopted by aesthetic care of the face and palms,” Fantozzi informed AFP.
“The purpose is to decelerate the pure processes of decomposition.”
The process, which makes use of a chemical fluid, needs to be carried out inside 36 hours of demise and takes a number of hours.
Its impact – a extra serene and pure look of the deceased – lasts as much as 10 days, Fantozzi stated.
The Vatican revealed the primary photos Tuesday of the pontiff in his open coffin, sporting his crimson papal vestments, a mitre on his head and a rosary between his fingers.
The pictures got here from a Monday night service within the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence the place he lived throughout his 12-year papacy, and the place he died.
Fantozzi declined to verify whether or not he carried out Francis’s embalming, citing privateness issues and Vatican protocol provisions. The Vatican declined to remark.
On its web site INIT lists Pope John Paul II and late opera nice Luciano Pavarotti among the many notable figures attended to by its specialists.
Italian media reported that Fantozzi oversaw the embalming of Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, who died in 2022 nearly a decade after resigning as pope.
In addition to for lying-in-state, short-term embalming is used for funeral wakes, physique repatriations and area of interest burials to offset doable spillage and gasoline releases attributable to decomposition, Fantozzi stated.
AFP
