whats the part of speech of “gathered” in this sentence?

Question

In this sentence:

We are gathered here today.

What's the part of speech of "gathered"?

Is that sentence a simple present passive voice? If yes why do we use "today"!? Today is a signal word for present perfect. And also simple present refers to routines, but in this case..?

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

It's simple present passive. "today" doesn't make it present perfect, it's just being used to be more specific, so you know what period is being referenced. If it were a week-long gathering, you could say:

We are gathered here this week.