Pope Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday, the Vatican announced, as world leaders from US President Donald Trump to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader.
The Argentine pontiff, 88, died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.
His funeral, which is expected to draw huge crowds, will take place at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Saturday in the majestic Baroque plaza in front of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Francis’s coffin — which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc — will then be taken inside the church and from there to Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.
The first so-called “general congregation” of cardinals took place on Tuesday morning, kicking off a centuries-old process that culminates in the election of a new pontiff within three weeks.
The Vatican published the first images Tuesday of the pontiff in his open coffin, wearing his red papal vestments, a mitre on his head and a rosary between his fingers. The images came from a Monday evening service in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence where he lived during his 12-year papacy, and where he died.
Francis’s coffin will be transferred to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday at 9:00 am, to lie in state until Saturday’s funeral.
In St Peter’s Square, believers and tourists alike gathered to pay their respects, some bearing flowers or candles and with many lost in their thoughts.
