Vatican Finalizes Preparations for Pope Francis's Funeral as Leaders Gather in Rome
More than 150,000 mourners have queued for hours to pay tribute to Pope Francis as the Vatican finalizes arrangements for his funeral, set to take place on Saturday. The solemn event will be attended by 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs.
St Peter's Basilica closed at 2:30am on Friday and reopened three hours later to accommodate the final wave of mourners. Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 following a stroke, will have his coffin sealed during a private ceremony for senior cardinals at 8pm local time. The basilica is scheduled to close to the public by 7pm.
Dignitaries including Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Joe Biden are arriving in Rome to pay their respects. Biden had met Pope Francis during the G7 summit in Italy the previous year. Other prominent figures expected include Argentina's president Javier Milei, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the Prince of Wales.
At the funeral, leaders from Argentina will be seated in the front row, followed by Italian officials in the second row, and other heads of state and royals in the third.
After days of silence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed condolences to the Catholic community, though Israel will not be sending a senior official to the funeral; the country's ambassador to Rome will attend instead.
Security measures are extensive, involving thousands of Italian police, military personnel, and the Vatican's Swiss Guards. Drone defenses, rooftop snipers, and fighter jets have been deployed to safeguard the ceremony.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is managing the Vatican's daily operations until a new pope is elected, will oversee the rite of the sealing of the coffin.
The funeral mass will commence at 10am in St Peter's Square and is expected to draw around 200,000 pilgrims. Following the mass, the simple wooden coffin will be transported slowly to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome's Esquilino neighborhood, a journey anticipated to take approximately 30 minutes.
