World bids farewell to ‘pope of the people’, with funeral featuring Mandarin

Hundreds of thousands of Catholics joined world leaders in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City for the funeral of the late pontiff Francis, praised as the “pope of the people”, with the service on Saturday including a prayer in Mandarin.

A live broadcast of the funeral for the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church, who died after suffering a stroke and heart failure at age 88 on Easter Monday, was also watched by the faithful gathered at a cathedral in Hong Kong.

Among the more than 200 cardinals attending the 2½-hour requiem mass at the Vatican was Hong Kong’s Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, who is also among those eligible to elect the church’s next leader at the coming conclave, which usually begins about 15 days to 20 days after the death of the pope.

Retired Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who has been a vocal critic of the church and the Beijing government, also left the city to attend the pontiff’s funeral.

About 250,000 people gathered in the square and another 150,000 on the surrounding streets, with some reportedly waiting overnight in a bid to secure a seat for the event.

More than 50 heads of state attended the funeral for the Argentinian pontiff. They included Argentinian President Javier Milei, Britain’s Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, United States President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.