Department for External Church Relations
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DECR Chairman attended the funeral of Pope Francis
DECR Communication Service, 26.04.2025.
On April 26, the funeral of Pope Francis took place in Rome. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, attended the mourning events.
The funeral service in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals. After the Mass, the body of Pope Francis was transferred to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he was buried according to his will.
The primates of the following Local Orthodox Churches participated in the events related to the burial of the head of the Roman Catholic Church: the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Albania, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as representatives of the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Greece, the Orthodox Church in America, and the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric. Delegations from the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian and Eritrean Churches, the Syro-Malankara Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Anglican Communion, the International Conference of Old Catholic Bishops, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the World Council of Churches were also present at the funeral service.
Dozens of world leaders and government delegations arrived in the Vatican to bid farewell to Pope Francis.
The Russian Federation was represented by Minister of Culture O.B. Lyubimova.
Also present at the funeral Mass was Metropolitan Platon (Udovenko), retired, who had known the late Pontiff since his service in the Argentine-South American Diocese.
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