As the Vatican and Catholics around the world prepare for Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, Father Chris Alar, provincial superior of the Marian Friars of the Immaculate Conception, told Newsmax that there’s a “dichotomy of feelings” surrounding both the late pontiff and the timing of his death.

Francis died on Easter Monday at 88 of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, according to the Vatican. Beginning Wednesday, a steady stream of mourners has passed through St. Peter’s Basilica day and night to pay their respects to the Pope as he lies in state before being laid to rest on Saturday.

“It’s kind of his last statement because [his death occurred during] the eight-day Octave of Easter,” Alar said Friday on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “It’s a time of joy. We are not to be mourning during these eight days. All of them are celebrated as one feast of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Divine Mercy Sunday. So, here we come now, four to six days after the death of a Pope is the burial, then nine days of mourning, and then 15 to 20 days after that is the conclave in the Sistine Chapel.

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