“A day of peace, a sign of truce, is the truest manifestation of condolences,” stated the appeal.

Cardinal Zuppi preached, “Let us give thanks for the gift of this father and pastor, brother, who spent his whole life to the end, with so much evangelical freedom because he was obedient to Christ, without arrogance, choosing the simplicity so important in the life of St. Francis.”

“Pope Francis with his whole life became a tireless and credible pilgrim in the name of Jesus, listening to and touching the heart,” the prelate continued. “Today he still asks us to look to the future, to open our eyes to dream, not to be satisfied.”

Cardinal Zuppi added:

He pointed out and lived joy, he put the words of Jesus, the kerygma, at the center, freeing it from so many glosses, personal and ecclesiastical, that made it ineffective, so much so that it no longer spoke to the heart ... He reminds us to be in joy, as he always indicated in his ministry. Let us take his words and deeds with us, let us let them touch our hearts, let us be on fire with his love.

“I call on religious leaders, heads of state, and public figures across the international community to speak with one voice, to issue a united appeal, and to act together to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

He added:

Let us help to silence the weapons on our long-suffering land, to restrain hostilities, and to establish a just and lasting peace. For today, the Risen Christ—our peace—stands among us and breathes His peace upon us. Let us allow Him to work through us. Let us help stop the war. Let us help Ukraine to survive and live.

“The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” according to the press office, as well as “in the heart and magisterium of the Holy Father, who had chosen the name Francis to never forget them.”

“For this reason, a group of the poor and needy will be present on the steps leading to the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major to pay their last respects to Pope Francis before the burial of his coffin,” the statement continued.

The simple tomb bears the name Franciscus, along with a replica of his pectoral cross.

Some 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs will be in attendance, according to the announcement.

During the first day that the body of Pope Francis lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, 61,000 mourners filed past his coffin, the Vatican newspaper reported.

Warren Hern, the outspoken abortionist who had run the abortuary—and had reportedly performed more than 40,000 abortions—had retired in January, but said that the clinic would continue its “sacred commitment” to provide abortions. He has now conceded that the clinic is out of business.

The Neuer Anfang [“New Beginning”] movement charged that the episcopal conference, which approved the guidelines on April 4, had withheld publication to avoid a Vatican rebuke. “They were probably just waiting for the Pope’s death and the interregnum to make news during a period of weaker ecclesiastical authority,” the group said.

Neuer Anfang said that the bishops’ instructions conflict with the Vatican instruction Fiducia Supplicans by encouraging liturgical ceremonies to celebrate same-sex unions. The document “distorts what the Church truly teaches,” the group said.

A spokesman for the German bishops denied that the release of the guidelines had been postponed until the papal interregnum, saying that the publication had been scheduled weeks earlier.