Pope Francis with Cardinal Wilfrid Napier.
Image: Archives
ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of the Roman Catholic Church in Durban and Cardinal Stephen Brislin, President of Southern Africa's Bishops Conference were among the presidents, royalty and a multitude of simple mourners who bade farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday at his funeral.
Napier and Brislin arrived in the Vatican City on Friday.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune from there, Napier said he and Pope Francis were made cardinals at the same time by Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis was elected by the college of the cardinals in 2013, in which Napier participated.
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Pope Francis, at the Vatican.
Image: REUTERS/Remo Casilli
"When he was elected Pope, Pope Francis appointed me in one of the key positions of the Council for the Economy, whose main task was the drawing up of rules and regulations for all the departments of the Vatican so that the financial systems that would be put in place would be measuring up to the best practices in financial management in the world, with particular reference to accountability and transparency.
"I used to see him often after he established this council, which was soon after he was elected in 2013. We shared a good relationship for many years," said Napier.
Napier described Pope Francis as very sincere and led by example.
"When he said we must become servants of the church, he didn't just say it, he made it a practice of his. On holy Thursday when there is the rite of washing of the feet, he would do it, but not do it in a symbolic way or token way, like in the church during Holy Thursday mass. He made it very significant and went to a prison and washed the feet of prisoners, some who were not even Christians," said Napier.
Cardinals attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral ceremony at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Saturday April 26.
Image: Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP
He said Pope Francis showed that the church was not about looking after those who are in it or are members of it, but rather reaching out to those who need the services of the church.
Napier said from the day of the funeral there will be nine days of mourning, when certain celebrations will take place.
"There will also be meetings of the cardinals discussing what the situation of the world is, how the church is to respond to that and what we would advise the man to be chosen as Pope to make his priorities.
"The last time when Pope Francis was elected it was quite clear from those discussions, and he himself as cardinal was strong in saying, the church needed a renewal and to make it a servant church," he said.
Napier said that was what Pope Francis showed them during his time as Pope, always reaching out to those on the margins, those who were excluded in one way or another.
"Anyone who was excluded by race, culture or sexual orientation, Pope Francis would say the church should be there to care for them. It is one of the lessons that we learnt," he said.
He said the cardinals eligible to participate in the election will meet, a conclave will be declared and they will go into the voting. The cardinals will have the opportunity to nominate, and the person with a two-third majority will be elected.
Maricarmen Gallegos, from Mexico, displays a banner with the image of Pope Francis ahead of his funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Saturday, April 26.
Image: REUTERS/Susana Vera
At the funeral, on one side of Francis' coffin in the vast St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City sat U.S. President Donald Trump, who clashed with the pontiff's legacy of caring for migrants, the downtrodden and the environment .
On the other side sat cardinals who must decide if Francis' successor should continue with his push for a more open Church or cede to conservatives who want to return to a more traditional papacy.
"Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today's challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time," said Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral mass.
The Argentine pope, who had reigned for 12 years and was the leader of some 1.4 billion Catholics, died at the age of 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke.
The crowd broke into applause when Re spoke of Francis' care for immigrants, his constant pleas for peace, the need for negotiations to end wars and the importance of the climate.
Applause also rang out at the start of the ceremony as 14 white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin, inlaid with a large cross, out of St. Peter's Basilica and into the square.
Aerial views of the Vatican showed a patchwork of colours - black from the dark garb of the world's leaders, red from the vestments of some 250 cardinals, the purple worn by some of the 400 bishops and the white worn by 4,000 attending priests.
People hold white roses as pallbearers carry the coffin of Pope Francis inside the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) during his funeral, in Rome, Italy, April 26, 2025.
Image: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
Choirs sang Latin hymns and prayers were recited in various languages, including Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic, reflecting the global reach of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church.
The faithful hurried to St. Peter's from the early hours while many camped out to try and secure spots at the front of the crowd. The Vatican estimated some 200 000 people had gathered at the start of the service.
"We want to say goodbye because he (was a) living saint, very humble and simple," said Mary James, a Franciscan nun, who had stayed up overnight to guarantee a good place.
Francis' death ushered in a meticulously planned period of transition, marked by ancient ritual, pomp and mourning. Over the past three days, around 250 000 people filed past his body, which was laid out in an open coffin before the altar of the cavernous, 16th-century basilica.
Before taking their seats, Trump and his wife, Melania, paid their respects to Francis' coffin in St. Peter's Basilica. The coffin was sealed shut on Friday night.
Among the other heads of state who flew into Rome were the presidents of Argentina, France, Gabon, Germany, the Philippines and Poland, together with the prime ministers of Britain and New Zealand, and many royals, including the king and queen of Spain.
Many people in the square clapped when Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared. Zelensky met Trump while both were in Rome, and had a "very productive discussion" a White House official said. Their meeting came at a time when Trump is pushing for a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Francis, the first non-European pope for almost 13 centuries, battled to reshape the Roman Catholic Church, siding with the poor and marginalised, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and reverse climate change.
"Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life and of universal fatherhood," said a formal summary of his papacy, written in Latin, and placed next to his body.
Traditionalists pushed back at his efforts to make the Church more transparent, while his pleas for an end to conflict, divisions and rampant capitalism often fell on deaf ears.
The pope shunned much of the pomp and privilege usually associated with the papacy. He carried that desire for greater simplicity into his funeral, having rewritten the elaborate, book-long funeral rites used previously.
Francis also opted to forego a centuries-old practice of burying popes in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, he was placed in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin, which was sealed closed overnight.
In a further break with tradition, he will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major some 5.5 kilometres from St. Peter's, as his final resting place.
His tomb has just "Franciscus", his name in Latin, inscribed on the top. A reproduction of the simple, iron-plated cross he used to wear around his neck hangs above the marble slab.
The funeral motorcade drove him through the city for one last time, allowing Romans to say farewell.
Italy mounted one of the biggest security operations the country has seen since the funeral of John Paul II. It closed the airspace over the city and called in extra security forces, with anti-aircraft missiles and patrol boats guarding the event.
Now that Francis is buried, attention has switched to who might succeed him.
The secretive conclave to elect a successor is unlikely to begin before May 6, and might not start for several days after that, giving cardinals time to hold regular meetings beforehand to sum each other up and assess the state of the Church, beset by financial problems and ideological divisions.
Catholic schools in Durban paid tribute throughout the week, along with parish communities around the Archdiocese, to the memory, the contributions, and the life of Pope Francis.
Archbishop of Durban, Siegfried Mandla Jwara, requested that on Sunday all the parishes in the archdiocese pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis as their mass intention.