Pope Francis is in the hospital, breathing on oxygen, treated with antibiotics. The world prays, the Vatican reassures the faithful, while the Italian media—those audacious lovers of papal scandals—whisper that the situation is serious. Sepsis? Kidney failure?
There is something inevitable in this Roman Catholic iconography—when the Pope coughs, cardinals pull out their black robes. When his oxygen levels drop, they check the chimney in the Sistine Chapel. Because the Pope is not an ordinary man.
The Pope cannot simply die.
The Pope must depart in a strictly choreographed ritual, polished over centuries, where everything has its place—every glance, every movement, every wisp of smoke.
If the Italian media’s predictions are correct, Cardinal Camerlengo, in this case, Irish Cardinal Kevin Farrell, will approach the Holy Father’s bedside, call him by name, and wait for a response. If there is no response, which seems likely, the Pope will be officially declared dead, and the Fisherman’s Ring, the symbol of his pontificate, will be destroyed.
Thus will end a decade-long pontificate in which Francis pulled the Church toward modernity as much as he could, while conservative cardinals pulled it back toward the Middle Ages.
A Simple Funeral for a Complex Man
Pope Francis has requested a simple funeral:
- No embalming.
- No organ removal.
- No three-layered coffins, as tradition dictates.
Just wood and zinc. To the earth what belongs to the earth.
For the first time in over a century, a Pope will not be buried in the Vatican but in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, where he often visited, and where, perhaps, he believes he will rest more peacefully than in crypts filled with past popes.
Black Smoke, White Smoke
And then—the conclave.
Cardinals under 80 years old will gather in the Sistine Chapel, lock the doors, and begin the ritual of choosing the new Holy Father.
Who will prevail?
The progressive cardinals who want to bring the Church closer to the world?
Or the conservative faction, still hoping to overturn the Second Vatican Council?
These days in Rome, power games unfold that even Machiavelli wouldn’t have imagined.
All eyes will be on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
- If the smoke is black, it means the Church has yet to find its new leader.
- If the smoke is white, a billion Catholics will hear the words: Habemus Papam.
The world loves to watch the death of popes, to follow every detail of these ancient rituals, the choreography of history repeating itself century after century.
And Pope Francis?
They say he is still conscious, eating normally, and in good spirits.
But the Pope is never just a man.
The Pope is an institution.
And institutions do not die—they fade away according to protocol.
The protocol gathers.
And the man still lives.
Meanwhile, the world breathes slower.