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

Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square on a chilly, rainy evening to pray for an ailing Pope Francis.

Pope Francis, battling double pneumonia, remains in a critical condition and his prognosis is still guarded because of the "complexity" of his clinical condition, the Vatican said on Sunday. The pope was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after having trouble breathing for several days and subsequently had pneumonia diagnosed in both lungs.