U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is leading a delegation of senators to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome this weekend.
Pope Francis, who died Monday at age 88, will be honored during a Saturday funeral at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. More than 200,000 are expected to attend.
Collins will be leading a group of senators, including Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, to the funeral.
Collins met Pope Francis in 2015 when he came to the U.S. Capitol to address Congress, the first pontiff to do so, according to her office.
“It is a tremendous honor to be selected to lead this bipartisan delegation of United States Senators to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis and pay our respects to his life and legacy,” Collins said in a statement. “Pope Francis’s profound commitment to celebrate the Risen Lord, even on the day before his death, and share God’s grace with people from all walks of life inspired many around the world. He truly embodied God’s boundless love for us all. It is an incredible blessing to have the opportunity to represent the Senate and honor the life of Pope Francis with my colleagues.”
Pope Francis became the 266th pope on March 13, 2013. He was the first Latin American and Jesuit pope.
During his papacy, Francis pushed to reform and open the Catholic Church, embracing openness toward the LGBTQ+ and calling for compassion rather than hatred and exclusion. He preached care for those on the fringes of society and didn’t shy from criticising capitalism and the role of major powers in the climate crisis.
His views often invoked the ire of conservatives.
Francis was long afflicted with lung disease and had a portion of one lung removed when he was younger. In recent weeks, he had long stays in the hospital. He finally ended up in a coma because of a cerebral stroke and his heart failed.
