Crowds of Catholics and world leaders gather in sunny St. Peter’s Square to pay their last respects to Francis on Saturday as the pope makes his final journey from the Vatican to his chosen resting place – a simple tomb in a favorite church in Rome.
The authorities expect 200,000 people to attend the funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, which will begin at 10 a.m. when the coffin will be taken to the area in front of the basilica.
Some camped out overnight to try to secure better seats in the square.
“We waited all night,” said Spanish pilgrim María Fierro. “Seeing (Francis) off in his last moments is very emotional.”
James Mary, a Franciscan nun, also waited overnight. “I was up all night,” she said. “We want to say goodbye, because he (was) a living saint, very humble and simple.”
The procession past Pope Francis’ casket in St. Peter’s Basilica ended on Friday evening after three days, with the Church estimating that 250,000 mourners paid their respects to the pontiff, who died on Monday at the age of 88.
St. Peter’s Basilica closed its doors at 7 p.m. Just before that, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived to pray by the casket.
US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania also arrived in Rome, and the funeral will be attended by 162 official delegations, including several Catholic monarchs, the Italian leadership, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and British Crown Prince William, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Argentine President Javier Miele, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Croatia is represented by President and Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and Andrej Plenković.
With so many world leaders in attendance, a large number of police, military and other security forces have been deployed. Snipers, explosives-sniffing dogs and bomb disposal teams, special forces on the Tiber River and other forces will be deployed to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will preside over the funeral mass. More than 220 cardinals will attend the funeral, including those eligible to vote in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.
After the mass, the pope’s coffin will be returned to St. Peter’s Basilica, from where a procession will head to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried.
Tens of thousands of people will gather along a route several kilometers long through central Rome – passing landmarks such as Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum – to the basilica where Francis will be laid to rest, a place he has visited frequently during his 12-year pontificate.
Francis will be the first pope not to be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in more than a century.
The funeral service itself will be private, attended by a few cardinals, Francis’ closest aides and his personal nurse. At the pope’s request, he will be greeted by some of the poor and homeless at the basilica.
