Pope's death: Why the body does not rot

In the case of Pope Francis, this process has been stopped by a special method. Thanatopraxie has been used to ensure that the faithful can say goodbye to the head of the Church one last time. Thousands of people are still defiling in St. Peter's Basilica until Friday before the body of Pope Francis. For Catholics, the opportunity to say goodbye to the dead Pope is not only a ritual, but also a gesture of gratitude.

The body of Pope Francis will remain in the wake for three days

After the Pope's death, the Vatican followed traditional rituals and used modern embalming techniques to preserve the body. The process, adopted over 100 years ago, involves draining the blood and introducing a chemical mixture into the circulatory system.

Pope Francis died on Monday morning at the Domus Santa Marta Hotel, where he lived in the Vatican. His death at the age of 88 occurred almost a month after his return to the Vatican after a hospital stay for bilateral pneumonia. The Holy See indicated that Francis suffered a stroke that led him to a coma and caused a heart failure.

Thousands of people are gathering at St. Peter's Basilica today to bid farewell to Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88. The coffin remains open for viewing, but how can the body be prevented from decomposing? Normally, a corpse takes 24 to 48 days to decompose. However, Francis's body appears to be in perfect condition. To achieve this, a procedure is being performed, as has been done for other pontiffs, given the time that elapses be…