Connect with us

International

Pope Francis for burial tomorrow (Saturday)

A nine-day mourning period will then begin.

Published

on

41 Views

Image: Getty images

The funeral of Pope Francis will take place on Saturday, in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

BBC reports that the preparations have begun for the conclave, the process by which cardinals will elect the next Pope.

Getty Images An open casket containing the body of Pope Francis is transferred to St. Peter's Basilica where it will lie in state for three days before his funeral on Saturday 26 April.

What will happen at the Pope’s funeral?

The Pope’s body is lying in state inside St Peter’s Basilica.

Tens of thousands of mourners have queued to say a final goodbye before his funeral takes place on Saturday, at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST).

Papal funerals have historically been very elaborate, but the instructions set out by Francis are much simpler.

He will be the first Pope in more than a century not to be buried inside the Vatican. Instead, he will be laid to rest in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major.

Francis asked to be buried in a simple wooden casket lined with zinc – unlike his predecessors, who were buried in three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.

The service will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals. Patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and priests from across the globe will also take part.

After a concluding prayer formally entrusting the Pope to God, the pontiff’s body will be moved to St Mary Major for the burial.

A nine-day mourning period will then begin.

Dozens of world leaders and thousands of worshippers will be at the funeral.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and French President Emmanuel Macron have said they will attend, as has Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, Francis’s home country.

The Prince of Wales will represent King Charles.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

International

Train derails injured 30 in Iran

Published

on

66 Views

A train derailed in the southern Iranian province of Kerman on Friday, injuring more than two dozen people though no deaths were reported, according to local media.

“Thirty people were injured when a train derailed on the Kerman-Zarand railway path,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.

A statement from the public relations office of the national railway body carried by the Tasnim news agency reported that after “the timely arrival of railway technical personnel and rescue forces, all passengers safely exited the train”.

Train derailments are not uncommon in Iran, and while they do not generally result in deaths, there have been fatal disasters in the past.

In June 2022, 21 people were killed and dozens were injured when a train derailed near the central Iranian city of Tabas after hitting an excavator beside the track.

In 2016, two trains collided and caught fire in northern Iran, killing 44 people and injuring scores.

AFP

Continue Reading

International

U.K.–India set to boost bilateral trade by over $34 billion a year

The FTA, which slashes duties on goods including textiles, alcohol and automobiles, was signed Thursday in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Published

on

By

85 Views

•Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

U.K. and India’s bilateral trade is set to get a more than $34 billion annual boost over the long term following their free trade agreement, with the countries’ leaders calling it a “historic” deal.

CNBC reported that the FTA, which slashes duties on goods including textiles, alcohol and automobiles, was signed on Thursday in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Both sides had finalized the trade pact in May after three years of intense negotiations — marked by thorny issues such as visas, tariff reduction and tax breaks.

Talks gained momentum and both governments accelerated to seal the deal as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats sent the world in disarray.

The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies is expected to boost their bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds per year by 2040.

Trade in goods and services stood at over 40 billion pounds in 2024.

The deal offers “huge benefits to both of our countries,” boosting wages, raising living standards and bringing down prices for consumers, Starmer said.

India’s Modi lauded the agreement as “a blueprint for our shared prosperity,” highlighting how Indian goods including textiles, jewelry, agricultural products and engineering items would benefit from a better access to the U.K. market.

Continue Reading

International

Russian missing plane found in Forest – No Survivors

Amur’s regional governor Vasily Orlov said five children were among those on board and declared three days of mourning.

Published

on

By

106 Views

Russian officials say 48 people were killed when an Angara Airlines plane went down in a dense forest in the far-eastern Amur region.

The Antonov An-24 plane, carrying 42 passengers and six crew, had left Blagoveshchensk close to the Chinese border and vanished from radar screens as it approached Tynda airport, officials said.

A Russian civil aviation helicopter then spotted burning fuselage from the plane on a remote hillside about 16km (10 miles) from Tynda.

Amur’s regional governor Vasily Orlov said five children were among those on board and declared three days of mourning.

Orlov said that according to preliminary data, there were 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members on board the plane operated by a Siberian airline.

Continue Reading

Trending