Time-honored rituals, drafted and refined over centuries, allow for ritual mourning and provide order at a dramatic moment of transition.

The Vatican described his condition as critical for the first time on Saturday, reporting that the 88-year-old Francis needed supplemental oxygen and blood transfusions after a "prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis.

Pope Francis was placed in “critical condition” on Saturday, the Vatican said, just four days after the religious leader contracted pneumonia. “The condition of the Holy Father continues to be