Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed he will attend Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday.
Luxon is in the United Kingdom, having wrapped up his engagements with King Charles and Sir Keir Starmer.
He will go to Gallipoli for Anzac Day services on Friday marking the 110th anniversary of the landings.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The prime minister will then go straight to St Peter's Basilica to represent New Zealand at the funeral.
Read more: Everything we know about the funeral of Pope Francis
Luxon said he would join those mourning the loss of Pope Francis while celebrating his service to the more than one billion Catholics across the world, including almost 450,000 in New Zealand.
Cardinal John Dew will travel to Rome to attend Pope Francis' funeral and the conclave to determine the pontiff's successor. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The prime minister will be joined at the funeral by Cardinal John Dew, who will also take part in the conclave process to determine the Pope's successor. The former Archbishop of Wellington was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015, and is New Zealand's only cardinal.
Dew said it was clear Pope Francis was going to be different leader right from day one.
He recalled being at a conference with the Pope in 2014 where he shone a light on human trafficking.
Other major causes Pope Francis championed included refugees and climate change, he said.
Dew said although Pope Francis had looked very frail at his last public appearance on Easter Sunday, no one expected him to die so soon after. He said Happy Easter were some of the last words the pontiff spoke in public.
Pope Francis, 88, died on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest. The pontiff spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year suffering from double pneumonia.
The funeral will begin at 10am local time (8pm New Zealand time) on Saturday - six days after his death, and will be held outside in St. Peter's Square.
Pope Francis in his open coffin during the rite of the Confirmation of the Death of the Pontiff at the Chapel of Santa Marta in The Vatican. Photo: AFP / Vatican media / Handout
Cardinals assemble in Rome for the conclave about 15 days after the pope's death. This will be the first conclave Dew has attended.
"It's quite awesome when I think of someone coming from a tiny little town in central Hawke's Bay and going to be part of a group electing someone who's going to lead the universal church for the next however many years," he said.
"The actual conclave itself, when you go into lockdown, I really don't know what to expect."
He hoped the next Pope would continue in Pope Francis' vein with his concern for the underprivileged, marginalised and venerable.
"I think one of the things for anyone who is elected is that he certainly needs to be in the mould of Francis," he said.
"I think it needs to be someone who is also very politically astute and is able to speak out.
"In the world we live in of misinformation and disinformation, there always needs to be someone who speaks the truth and who stands up for the rights of all human beings, who continues to say we are all brothers and sisters together," he said.
"Someone humble, trusting in God with a great sense of hope too."
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