The Vatican yesterday made final preparations for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners filed through St Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.
Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending today’s ceremony in St Peter’s Square, who include US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, were expected to arrive in Rome yesterday.
Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St Peter’s under tight security ahead of the funeral, with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby.
Photo: Reuters
Further checkpoints were to be activated last night, police said.
Tens of thousands of people have already queued for hours to pay their last respects to Francis, whose coffin was to be closed at 8:00pm yesterday in a ceremony attended by senior cardinals.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo who is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, would preside over the so-called “Rite of the Sealing of the Coffin.”
Photo: Reuters
The Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope died on Monday, aged 88, less than a month after spending weeks in hospital with severe pneumonia.
The Argentine pontiff, despite longstanding health issues, defied doctors’ orders by appearing at Easter, the most important moment in the Catholic calendar.
Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed those on the fringes of society in his 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
He used his last speech to rail against those who stir up “contempt ... towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants.”
At least 130 foreign delegations are expected at his funeral, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Britain’s Prince William, and a no-fly zone would be in force.
The pope’s coffin was set before St Peter’s altar for his three days of lying-in-state, with Francis dressed in his papal vestments — a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes.
“It was a brief, but intense moment next to his body,” said Italian Massimo Palo, 63, after his visit.
“He was a pope amongst his flock, amongst his people, and I hope the next papacies will be a bit like his,” he added.
Italy’s civil protection agency estimates that “several hundred thousand” people would descend on Rome on what was already set to be a busy weekend due to a public holiday yesterday.
After the funeral, Francis’s coffin would be driven at a walking pace to be buried at his favorite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The pontiff was a champion of underdogs, and a group of “poor and needy” would be there to welcome the coffin, the Vatican said.
He would be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus.
People would be able to visit the tomb from tomorrow morning.
Following that, all eyes would turn to the process to choose Francis’ successor.
Cardinals from around the world have been returning to Rome for the funeral and the conclave, when a new pontiff would be elected.
In the absence of a pope, the cardinals have been meeting every day to agree on the next steps, with another meeting due yesterday.
They have yet to announce a date for the conclave, but it must begin no fewer than 15 days and no more than 20 days after a pope’s death.
Only those younger than 80 — about 135 cardinals — are eligible to vote. Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was number two to Francis, is the favorite, British bookmakers William Hill said.
They put him ahead of Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle, followed by Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson and Archbishop of Bologna Matteo Zuppi.
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