The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the funeral Mass, which will be concelebrated by Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and priests from across the globe.

The Eucharistic celebration will conclude with the Ultima commendatio and the Valedictio, marking the beginning of the Novemdiales, or nine days of mourning and Masses for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul.

The late Pope’s body will then be taken into St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for entombment.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the coffin containing the Pope’s body will be carried from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St.

Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of translation on April 23, which will begin at 9:00 AM with a moment of prayer.

The procession will pass through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, according to the Holy See Press Office.

The procession will then exit through the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square and enter the Vatican Basilica through the central door.

At the Altar of the Confession, the Cardinal Camerlengo will preside over the Liturgy of the Word, at the conclusion of which the visits to the body of the Roman Pontiff will commence.

From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Sen. Douye Diri has said that rather than get angry, criticism from the pulpit challenges him to perform better.Diri stated this on Sunday night during the 2025 Easter Cantata held at the King of Glory Chapel, Government House, Yenagoa, in response to the admonition of the guest minister and Bishop of the Ogbia Anglican Diocese, Rt.

Rev. Matthew Obaze.In his sermon, Bishop Obaze advised the governor not to be distracted by praise singers, who have their own agenda and could derail his vision for the state.In response, Diri revealed that he was afraid of pastors as the pulpit confers on them the freedom to speak truth to those in position of authority.He said while his administration had recorded significant achievements in various sectors, there was still room for improvement.The Bayelsa helmsman commended the Anglican cleric for his frank admonition, noting, however, that he was not surprised as they both had come a long way from the days he was involved in Ijaw activism.During his sermon, Bishop Obaze acknowledged the achievements of the governor but advised him not to be carried away by praise singers, who, according to him, might be doing so for selfish reasons and not out of patriotism.The cleric urged the governor to retrospect on the ideology that brought him into politics and follow that path.While emphasising that there was still much to be done, he said the dreams of the founding fathers of the state should be pursued to enhance its development.He equally implored political appointees to imbibe the virtues of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial living to engender development of the state.Present at the programme were the Senator representing Bayelsa Central, Dr. Konbowei Benson, representative of the Ilaje/Eseodo federal constituency in Ondo State, Hon. Donald Ojogo, former military governor of the old Rivers State and Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff and his wife, state lawmakers, members of the state executive council, top government functionaries as well as clergymen among others.

From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa

Controversy is trailing the relocation of Kolo Creek Rural Development Authority (RDA) from Kolo community to Emeyal community, both in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.Kolo community is the hometown of George Turnah, a former aide of Governor Douye Diri, who had fallen out with the governor and had switched political loyalty to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nysesom Wike.

Kolo Creek RDA was one of the unrecognised local government areas created by the former governor of the state, Chief Solomon Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, in 2000However, the current controversy, which had sparked protests by the people of Kolo community, was the decision by the state government to relocate the RDA local government headquarters to Emeyal II. The people had denounced the relocation citing the ongoing rift between Turnah and Senator Diri as the reason for the decision.According to the people, the decision to marginalise the people of Kolo community because of the politics of Turnah was in bad faith.They noted that discreet moves by the state government to approach the National Assembly by the state government to create a full-fledged local government named Ogbia North Local Government Area from the existing Kolo RDA and site its headquarters in Emeyal II instead of the Kolo community, which is the headquarters of Ogbia constituency III will only trigger avoidable crisis.Chief Solomon Ederi Aginaye, 1st Deputy Agholo, King of Kolo Kingdom, declared that the people, through protest, have expressed their grievances over the attempt to shortchange the people of Kolo community.According to him, the people are disturbed because the interest of the people of Kolo community was not taken into consideration by those who have made up their minds to ‘’gang up against Kolo.He lamented that since Kolo community supported the governorship ambition of Senator Douye for his first and second term, the Kolo community has not benefitted in terms of projects and appointments.Aginaye appealed to Senator Diri to resist the temptation to allow his interest to override the interest of the state.‘’The people are calling on President Bola Tinubu, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas and Wike to stop the evil orchestration by the Diri administration against peace loving people of Kolo and reinstate Kolo as the headquarters of Kolo Creek RDA as a full-fledged local government area which has now been fraudulently renamed Ogbia North Local Government Area in the proposal submitted to the National Assembly’’ Diri, in a meeting with representatives of Kolo and Emeyal communities in Government House, disclosed that the meeting was called to ensure that there was law and order in Ogbia Constituency III following the disagreement about what he called the perceived relocation of the headquarters of Kolo Creek Local Government Area from Kolo community to Emeyal II.Diri, who insisted that Kolo remains the headquarters of the RDA, explained that the notice for the creation of new local government areas from the Federal Government was received late, leaving the state government with a very short time to make a decision.He emphasised that councils are yet to be created, stressing that historically, no civilian administration has been able to create local government areas.