Swiss president to attend Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome

Funeral of Pope Francis, Keller-Sutter will be there Keystone-SDA

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has confirmed on X that she will attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday morning.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“I will be travelling to Rome to represent Switzerland at Pope Francis’s funeral,” she wrote on X. The Vatican announced today that the service will be held at 10am in front of St Peter’s Basilica.

Ich plane, nach Rom zu reisen, um die Schweiz bei der Beerdigung von Papst Franziskus zu vertreten. pic.twitter.com/35wE3McesfExternal link

— Karin Keller-Sutter (@keller_sutter) April 22, 2025External link

The pontiff, who passed away on Easter Monday at 7:30am at the age of 88, will be laid to rest in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of his favourite places in Rome.

+ Former Swiss Papal Guard reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy

Keller-Sutter paid tribute to Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Monday, posting on X just minutes after his death was announced. “He was a great spiritual leader, a tireless promoter of peace, and his profound humanity touched not only Catholics,” she wrote, adding, “his legacy will endure.” The message was accompanied by a photo of the smiling pope.

Last year, Pope Francis introduced new rules calling for more modest greetings for pontiffs. The revised ritual stipulates that funerals should reflect the life of a “disciple of Christ” rather than that of a “powerful man of this world”.

Translated from Italian with DeepL/sp

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.

Don’t miss your chance to make a difference! Take our survey and share your thoughts.