April 23 (UPI) — Mourners began filing past the open coffin of the late Pope Francis inside St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday as a three-day period of lying in state got underway in the Vatican.
More than 20,000 people packed St. Peter’s Square as the body of the pontiff, who died Monday at the age of 88, was transferred in a processional rite from the chapel of Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he will remain on public view through 7 p.m. Friday.
The procession, led by the college of Cardinals, moved through Santa Marta Square, under the Arch of the Bells, and into St. Peter’s Square, with the crowds “erupting into subdued but sustained applause” as his coffin was carried up the steps of the basilica, through the central door before being placed in front of the Altar of the Confession.
Vatican carmelengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell then led a service, the Liturgy of the Word, in which the cardinals, clergy and other church officials were able to pay their respects, before opening up to the public.
Francis’ body is lying in state in a simple wooden coffin in line with his wishes to dispense with the traditional three coffins, one each of cypress, lead and oak.
After public viewing ends, Farrell, the acting head of the church and man in charge of funeral arrangements, will lead the closing of the coffin in preparation for Francis’ funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday morning.
A minute’s silence will be held across Italy as the service gets underway at 10 a.m. with tens of thousands of members of the public expected to attend along with many world leaders and dignitaries including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
After the funeral, Francis’ body will be taken to Basilica St. Mary Major, which lies outside Vatican City in the Rome district of Esquiline, for burial, again in line with his express wish to be interred there instead of in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis, who served for 12 years after taking over from Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, died of a stroke and heart failure on Easter Monday, a month after being discharged from the hospital where he spent five weeks being treated for double pneumonia.
