Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly. Thank you for following along and reading the updates. Here is a summary of the day’s events:
Pope Francis has been eulogised as “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone” during a funeral mass that brought together an array of mourners, from pilgrims and refugees to powerful world leaders and royals. The crowd erupted into applause as the late pontiff’s wooden coffin was carried from the altar of the 16th-century St Peter’s Basilica, where it had laid in state for three days, by 14 white-gloved pallbearers and into the square for the open-air ceremony.
Applause also rang out when the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral mass, spoke of Francis’s care for immigrants, his constant pleas for peace, the need for negotiations to end wars and the importance of the climate. At least 400,000 people turned out for Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican and lined Rome’s streets, Italy’s interior minister said on Saturday afternoon.
Pope Francis, who famously refused to judge gay or divorced Catholics, believed the Church “is a home for all”, Battista Re said in his funeral homily. Francis was driven by “the conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open … a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds,” he said.
Leaders from more than 150 countries attended the funeral mass, including the US president, Donald Trump, who had repeatedly clashed with Pope Francis over immigration, and his wife, Melania. UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, French president, Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, former US president Joe Biden, Argentinian president Javier Milei, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Prince William were also among the guests.
Cardinals performed the rite of burial for Pope Francis at his simple tomb inside Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. The burial ceremony on Saturday was private, attended by top cardinals and people close to the pope. Video provided by the Vatican showed Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican in between papacies, blessing Francis’ coffin before it was interred. Francis’ tomb has been constructed using stone from Liguria, the Italian region where his grandparents once lived. The simple tomb bears just the inscription “Franciscus” and a replica of his pectoral cross.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to receive a round of applause as he attended the funeral of Pope Francis. The crowd of assembled world leaders could be heard clapping as the Ukrainian president left St Peter’s Basilica, where he had paid his respects in front of the pontiff’s coffin ahead of the funeral ceremony.
Trump and Zelenskyy used their time at the Vatican while attending the funeral of Pope Francis to discuss a possible ceasefire with Russia, with the Ukrainian president releasing a photograph of a seemingly intense conversation in St Peter’s Basilica. The White House described the meeting as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said on X that the talk with the US president was very symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.
Trump, Zelenskyy, Macron and Starmer had a “positive meeting” on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral, the French presidency said on Saturday.
Starmer and Zelenskyy agreed to work intensively to maintain the positive momentum in peace talks to end the war with Russia, Starmer’s office said on Saturday. “They discussed positive progress made in recent days to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement after Starmer and Zelenskyy met in Rome, where world leaders gathered on Saturday for Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Zelenskyy also had a separate meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron.
The 90-minute funeral mass for the late pope was celebrated by 220 cardinals, 750 bishops and more than 4,000 priests. More than 2,000 journalists from around the world travelled to Rome to cover the event.
The public can begin visiting Pope Francis’s tomb at the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore “as early as Sunday morning”, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni announced on Friday.
You can also catch up on the day’s events with our main story and a picture gallery linked below:
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With songs, candles, flags and prayers, Buenos Aires mourners marked the burial of pontiff and native son Pope Francis on Saturday.
As the 88-year-old was being laid to rest an ocean away in Rome, thousands gathered by Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral for dawn vigils and a mass of remembrance, reports Agence France-Presse.
They were urged to take up the activist mantle of Latin America’s first pope and to carry on his life’s work. “Let us be the outgoing church that Francis always wanted us to be, a restless church that mobilises,” Buenos Aires’ archbishop Jorge García Cuerva told a funeral mass.
Braving rain and the an autumn chill, dozens of people set up tents in the city’s famed Plaza de Mayo for an overnight vigil until 5am local time (8am GMT), when Pope Francis’s funeral began in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Images of the pope and the Virgin of Lujan were illuminated with candles, bread was broken and flags were flown, reports AFP.
Iara Amado, a 25-year-old social worker, said she wanted the vigil “to reclaim the pope’s legacy, to transform the sadness left by his departure into a beacon of hope.”
Mourners hung banners with some of the most emblematic phrases of Francis’s papacy: “Make a ruckus” and “dream big.” An image of the pope with the inscription “pray for me” was projected on to a nearby obelisk.
Lucas Pedro, a 40-year-old teacher, told AFP that those gathered did so “with a deep sense of gratitude”.
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Italy’s Giorgia Meloni expects Russia to show concrete signs of its willingness to pursue peace in Ukraine, the prime minister said in a statement after meeting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome.
Meloni, who met Zelenskyy after Pope Francis’s funeral, stressed “the urgency of an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as well as the need for a concrete commitment by Moscow to launch a peace process”.
Who are the frontrunners to be the next pope?
As the recent film Conclave showed, predicting the next pope is not a straightforward matter.
Francis – the first Jesuit pope – was a surprise choice; a fact the Argentinian immediately acknowledged when he joked that his fellow cardinals had had to “go to the end of the earth” to find a new bishop of Rome.
But among the names frequently mentioned as possible successors are Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian cardinal; Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary of state; and Luis Antonio Tagle, from the Philippines.
Conclave: the Vatican’s secret process for choosing a new pope
The next pope will be chosen by the College of Cardinals, the Catholic church’s most senior figures appointed by the pontiff, who will make their way to Rome in the next few days for the conclave. The name comes from the Latin cum clave, meaning “with key”, indicating the closed process of electing a pope.
There are more than 250 cardinals from more than 90 countries, but only about 135 are cardinal electors (those over the age of 80 are excluded). About 110 of the cardinal electors have been chosen by Francis in the past 10 years and largely reflect his vision of a more inclusive church.
Once the cardinals are assembled in Rome, usually 15-20 days after the pope’s death, they gather under Michelangelo’s magnificent painted ceiling in the Sistine Chapel to begin their deliberations. After the words extra omnes – everyone out – are declared, referring to all but voting cardinals and a handful of officials and doctors, the doors are locked.
The cardinals swear an oath of absolute secrecy, and are permitted no contact with the outside world for the duration of the election process. Their phones are removed, and no newspapers, television, letters or messages are allowed. The chapel is also swept for listening devices before and during the conclave.
The cardinals sleep and eat in a purpose-built hostel, St Martha’s house, near the Sistine Chapel, where Pope Francis had lived for the past 12 years.
The conclave begins with a celebration of mass, after which deliberations and voting begins. Votes are taken each day, morning and afternoon, until a candidate wins a two-thirds majority. There is a day’s break for prayer and reflection after every seven ballots. The longest papal conclave in recent history was 1922, when the cardinals took five days to choose their new leader.
Any baptised male can be elected as pope, although a serving cardinal is invariably chosen. Each elector is given a ballot card with the words eligo in summum pontificem (I elect as supreme pontiff) printed at the top. They insert the name of their choice, fold the card and drop it into a chalice.
The ballot is secret, but that does not mean the process is immune from factionalising, intrigue and lobbying.
After each round of voting, the ballot cards are burned. Chemicals are added to make the smoke black or white. Black smoke emerging from the 60ft chimney indicates an inconclusive ballot; white smoke announces to the world that a new pope has been elected.
The successful candidate is asked if he accepts election and, if so, which name he chooses to take as pontiff. The cardinals pledge obedience to the new pope, who is led into the adjacent Room of Tears to be dressed in a white cassock and skull cap, and red slippers. Three sets of vestments in different sizes will have been made by Vatican tailors in advance.
The dean of the cardinals steps on to the main balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, in front of which thousands of Catholic devotees and tourists will be gathered. The dean will declare: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus papam” – “I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope.”
Guardian readers have reflected on the life of Pope Francis, the late Roman Catholic pontiff, who spoke up for marginalised and vulnerable people.
You can read the letters here:
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy used their time at the Vatican while attending the funeral of Pope Francis to discuss a possible ceasefire with Russia, with the Ukrainian president releasing a photograph of a seemingly intense conversation in St Peter’s Basilica.
The White House described the meeting as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said on X that the talk with the US president was very symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.
It was the first time that Zelenskyy and Trump had met face to face after a frosty February encounter in the White House where Trump and the US vice-president, JD Vance, berated the Ukrainian leader and accused him of ingratitude for US aid.
In an effort to end fighting between Ukraine and Russia, Washington is engaging in intense mediation betweenthe two countries, at war since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
On Friday, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow for three hours to discuss Washington’s peace proposal. Trump said that “most of the major points are agreed to”, in a post on his Truth Social platform, without further elaboration. He called for a meeting between Kyiv and Moscow’s leadership to sign a ceasefire deal, which he said was “very close”.
Despite Trump’s eagerness for a deal, significant differences remain between the US vision for peace and what Ukraine and its European allies have deemed acceptable conditions for a ceasefire.
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Footage shared by the Holy See showed cardinals marking Pope Francis’s wooden and zinc coffin with red wax seals, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, sprinkled it with holy water after it was lowered into a tomb set inside an alcove. A reproduction of the pectoral cross worn by Francis during his lifetime hung above it.
Francis had asked that the tomb, located near the altar of Saint Francis, be simple and unadorned, reflecting the humble spirit of his papacy. The tombstone bears only the inscription “Franciscus” – the pope’s name in Latin.
Its marble is sourced from Liguria, the north-western Italian region once home to the Argentine pontiff’s Italian ancestors.
Francis, born Jorge Bergoglio, had specified in his will the exact spot he wanted to be buried, in the side nave of the beloved fifth-century church.
The pontiff was devoted to the worship of the Virgin Mary and made a point of praying in Santa Maria Maggiore before leaving on trips abroad and upon his return to Rome. He declared his desire to be entombed there in 2023.
Located in the heart of Rome, the basilica already holds the tombs of seven popes, reports AFP, but the last one to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669. More recently popes have usually been buried in St Peter’s Basilica.
One of four papal basilicas in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore also holds the remains of several other renowned figures, such as the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who designed St Peter’s Square and its surrounding columns.
Built in about AD432 under Pope Sixtus III, the basilica holds some of the Catholic church’s most important relics, including an icon of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, attributed to Saint Luke, reports AFP.
Cardinals have performed the rite of burial for Pope Francis at his simple tomb inside Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
The burial ceremony on Saturday was private, attended by top cardinals and people close to the pope. Video provided by the Vatican showed Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican in between papacies, blessing Francis’ coffin before it was interred.
The pope chose the basilica because of his devotion to the Salus Populi Romani icon of the Virgin Mary, which is located next to his tomb.
Starmer and Zelenskyy agree to keep positive momentum in Ukraine peace talks, Downing Street says
UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to work intensively to maintain the positive momentum in peace talks to end the war with Russia, Starmer’s office said on Saturday.
“They discussed positive progress made in recent days to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement after Starmer and Zelenskyy met in Rome, where world leaders gathered on Saturday for Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican.
The spokesperson added:
They agreed to maintain momentum and continue working intensively with international partners to drive forward the next stages of planning.
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The Guardian picture desk have gathered a selection of the best photographs from Pope Francis’s funeral in St Peter’s Square and of the procession to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
You can view the full gallery here:
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Pope buried in Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica
Pope Francis was buried inside his favourite Rome church after a funeral mass in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said on Saturday.
The Argentinian pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, was laid to rest during a 30-minute burial ceremony which started at 1pm, local time (11am GMT) at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in the Italian capital.
What happens after the pope's coffin arrives at Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica?
After the procession fom Vatican City to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, Pope Francis’s coffin was welcomed by “‘the last ones,’ a group of poor and marginalised people who always had a special place in Pope Francis’s heart”, writes the Vatican News. The group gave a final tribute before the coffin was carried to the altar.
While the burial will take place privately, Vatican News did provide some details in its reporting. It stated that Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, will mark Pope Francis’s coffin with his seal, along with those of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, and the Liberian Chapter.
Vatican News add:
The remains of the Successor of Peter [Pope Francis] will be laid in the tomb and sprinkled with holy water.
After the Regina Cæli prayer, the notary of the Liberian Chapter will draw up the official act confirming the burial and will read it aloud to those present. The act will be signed by the samerlengo cardinal, the regent of the papal household, the master of papal liturgical celebrations, and finally the notary.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had separate meetings with French president Emmanuel Macron and UK prime minister Keir Starmer in Rome after they attended the funeral of Pope Francis, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
At least 400,000 people at Pope Francis’s funeral, says Italian interior minister
At least 400,000 people turned out for Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican and lined Rome’s streets, Italy’s interior minister has said. This is up from the 250,000 estimated earlier by the Vatican.
“We estimate not fewer than 400,000 people between those present in St Peter’s Square and those along the route,” Matteo Piantedosi told the TG5 news programme, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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Pilgrims and the powerful come together for Pope Francis’s funeral
My colleague, Angela Giuffrida, is reporting from Vatican City and has this report:
Pope Francis has been eulogised as “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone” during a funeral mass that brought together an array of mourners, from pilgrims and refugees to powerful world leaders and royals.
Francis, 88, died on Monday after a stroke and subsequent heart failure, setting into motion a series of centuries-old rituals and a huge, meticulously planned logistical and security operation not seen in Italy since the funeral of John Paul II in April 2005.
The crowd erupted into applause as the late pontiff’s wooden coffin was carried from the altar of the 16th-century St Peter’s Basilica, where it had laid in state for three days, by 14 white-gloved pallbearers and into the square for the open-air ceremony.
Applause also rang out when the Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral mass, spoke of Francis’s care for immigrants, his constant pleas for peace, the need for negotiations to end wars and the importance of the climate.
Under a blue sky, more than 250,000 pilgrims descended on the Vatican, with the crowds stretching along Via della Conciliazione, the road connecting the Italian capital with the Vatican.
More than 2,000 journalists from around the world travelled to Rome to cover the event.
The 90-minute mass was celebrated by 220 cardinals, 750 bishops and more than 4,000 priests.
“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this Earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” Battista Re said at the start of his eulogy.
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Pope Francis’ tomb in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major has been constructed using stone from Liguria, the Italian region where his grandparents once lived.
The simple tomb bears just the inscription “Franciscus” and a replica of his pectoral cross.
Located near the Altar of St Francis, between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel, the tomb reflects the pope’s wish to rest in a place connected to his family heritage.
Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, co-Archpriest of the Basilica, shared the details in a recent television interview.
Vatican News reported:
It is precisely in the small town of Cogorno that a plaque of slate – a fine-grained grey, green or bluish metamorphic rock – commemorates Bergoglio’s great-grandfather, Vincenzo Sivori. He travelled from Italy to Argentina in the 1800s. There, he raised his family, including his granddaughter Regina Maria Sivori: Pope Francis’ mother.
Pope Francis often kept his connection to Liguria private, so the mayor of the town, Enrica Sommariva, described her surprise when she heard that the pope had requested stone from his grandparents’ region for his tomb.
Angela Sivori, who still lives in Cogorno, recounted the moment in which she found out she was Pope Francis’ cousin. She described receiving a phone call from Buenos Aires, and a genealogy tree via email.
She and her daughter, Cristina, said the pope’s request regarding the stone for the tomb was a wonderful gift to the family, “one last surprise”, Cristina said.
As a priest, and then cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergoglio would always call into Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major), one of the four papal basilicas in Rome, during his regular visits to the Italian capital.
The fourth-century basilica with its distinctive bell tower is perched on one of Rome’s seven ancient hills in Esquilino, a neighbourhood that lies between the Colosseum and Termini train station, which during the Roman empire served as a burial ground for slaves.
On one visit, Bergoglio had a close shave with a suspected pickpocket.
But that did not sully his experience. Years later, in March 2013, on the morning after he became Pope Francis, a name chosen in honour of Francis of Assisi, the Italian saint who renounced a life of luxury to help the poor, he snuck out of the Vatican to go to pray at Santa Maria Maggiore.
Francis frequented the basilica, which is about two-and-a-half miles away from Vatican City, more than 100 times during his 12-year papacy, mostly to pray before and after trips overseas. On 23 March, the day he was discharged from hospital after a near-fatal bout of pneumonia, he stopped by to deliver flowers on his way back to the Vatican. His most recent visit was on 12 April.
Pope Francis’s funeral is also being marked by church services and gatherings across the world. Here are some images coming in via the newswires:
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Zelenskyy: Trump meeting 'has the potential to become historic'
US president Donald Trump has left Rome after attending the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday where he also held private talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the pool travelling with the president.
Zelenskyy said on social media that the meeting was “good” and has “the potential to become historic”.
He posted on X:
Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire.
Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you @POTUS.
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Trump, Zelenskyy, Macron and Starmer had 'positive' meeting on sidelines of pope's funeral, says French presidency
US president Donald Trump, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, France’s president Emmanuel Macron and UK prime minister Keir Starmer had a “positive meeting” on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral, the French presidency said on Saturday.
Asked about a photograph shared by the Ukrainian presidential press office that depicted the four leaders standing together in Rome, according to Reuters, the French presidency said: “I confirm the meeting, which was positive.”
Here is an image of the leaders:
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Pope's coffin arrives at Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica
The pope’s coffin has now arrived at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, which lies outside the Vatican.
Live TV footage shows the coffin being lifted out of the white vehicle that transported it by pallbearers.
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Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily for Pope Francis’s funeral mass concluded with the following:
In contrast to what he called “the culture of waste,” he spoke of the culture of encounter and solidarity. The theme of fraternity ran through his entire pontificate with vibrant tones. In his Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti, he wanted to revive a worldwide aspiration to fraternity, because weare all children of the same Father who is in heaven. He often forcefully reminded us that we all belong to the same human family.
In 2019, during his trip to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis signed a document on human fraternity for world peace and living together, recalling the common fatherhood of God.
Addressing men and women throughout the world, in his Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ he drew attention to our duties and shared responsibility for our common home, stating, “No one is saved alone.”
Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions. War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone.
“Build bridges, not walls” was an exhortation he repeated many times, and his service of faith as Successor of the Apostle Peter always was linked to the service of humanity in all its dimensions.
Spiritually united with all of Christianity, we are here in large numbers to pray for Pope Francis, that God may welcome him into the immensity of his love.
Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying, “Do not forget to pray for me.”
Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.
Here are some more images coming in via the newswires:
More than 250,000 people at Pope Francis’s funeral, says Vatican
More than 250,000 people assembled at St Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican said on Saturday.
“The competent authority informs us that, while the funeral of Pope Francis has ended, more than 250,000 people are present,” said the Vatican in a brief statement Saturday at the end of the ceremony.
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Where will Pope Francis be buried?
Pope Francis’s choice of burial place marks another break with tradition. Most popes have decided to be laid to rest in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s. But Francis opted instead for the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, which lies outside the Vatican.
The Marian shrine, which houses a celebrated icon of the Virgin Mary and a relic of the manger in which baby Jesus was laid, was a favourite spot of Francis’s, and he often prayed there before and after his trips abroad.
“As I’ve always promised the Virgin, the place is already prepared,” he said in an interview with Mexican TV two years ago. “I want to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore because it’s my great devotion.”
Francis requested that he be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
Funeral mass ends and procession of pope's coffin to Santa Maria Maggiore begins
The funeral mass for Pope Francis has ended and now his coffin will be carried in a procession to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome for burial.
As the route map shows below, the procession will leave Vatican City and pass over the Tiber River and then through central Rome to Piazza Venezia, passing by the Colosseum, before turning northward to arrive at Santa Maria Maggiore.
The burial inside the church will not be open to the public.
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Pope Francis announced his pastoral intentions from the very beginning of his papacy, saying he preferred a church that was “bruised, hurting and dirty” from being on the streets to one that was cautious and complacent.
Although he never strayed from doctrine – to the annoyance of many optimistic liberals – his 12 years as pope were marked by a deliberate embrace of those historically on the margins of the church and society. He wanted a church, he said, for “todos, todos, todos” – which translates into: “Everyone, everyone, everyone.”
Lorenzo Tondo, Harriet Sherwood and Sam Jones have spoken to those who met him and shared what his pontificate meant to them. You can read their stories here:
In his homily, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s also spoke about how Pope Francis’s papacy was defined by compassion for refugees:
His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant. It is significant that Pope Francis’ first journey was to Lampedusa, an island that symbolises the tragedy of emigration, with thousands of people drowning at sea.
In the same vein was his trip Lesbos, together with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the archbishop of Athens, as well as the celebration of a mass on the border between Mexico and the United States during his journey to Mexico.
Of his 47 arduous apostolic journeys, the one to Iraq in 2021, defying every risk, will remain particularly memorable. That difficult apostolic journey was a balm on the open wounds of the Iraqi people, who had suffered so much from the inhuman actions of Islamic State.
It was also an important trip for interreligious dialogue, another significant dimension of his pastoral work. With his 2024 apostolic journey to four countries in Asia-Oceania, the pope reached “the most peripheral periphery of the world.”
Pope Francis always placed the Gospel of mercy at the centre, repeatedly emphasising that God never tires of forgiving us. He always forgives, whatever the situation might be of the person who asks for forgiveness and returns to the right path.
He called for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in order to highlight that mercy is “the heart of the Gospel.”
Mercy and the joy of the Gospel are two key words for Pope Francis.
Pictured: Trump and Zelenskyy speak on sidelines of pope's funeral
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have spoken about the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome.
Here is a handout picture provided by the Ukrainian presidential press service.
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Here is some more from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily for Pope Francis:
With his characteristic vocabulary and language, rich in images and metaphors, he always sought to shed light on the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel. He did so by offering a response guided by the light of faith and encouraging us to live as Christians amid the challenges and contradictions in recent years, which he loved to describe as an “epochal change.”
He had great spontaneity and an informal way of addressing everyone, even those far from the church. Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalisation. He gave of himself by comforting and encouraging us with a message capable of reaching people’s hearts in a direct and immediate way.
His charisma of welcome and listening, combined with a manner of behaviour in keeping with today’s sensitivities, touched hearts and sought to reawaken moral and spiritual sensibilities.
Evangelisation was the guiding principle of his pontificate. With a clear missionary vision, he spread the joy of the Gospel, which was the title of his first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium. It is a joy that fills the hearts of all those who entrust themselves to God with confidence and hope.
The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open. He often used the image of the church as a “field hospital” after a battle in which many were wounded; a church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart; a church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.
Bernadette Clowery, from Wolverhampton, bagged a spot by the Tiber on the fringe of St Peter’s Square, which had screens showing the funeral.
“Pope Francis was a lovely, humble man. I don’t think we’ll have another like him,” she said. She is rooting for Britain’s Cardinal Vincent Nichols, whom she has met, to emerge from the conclave as Francis’s successor. “He’s a lovely man. Fingers crossed.”
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At Pope Francis’s funeral, choirs have sang Latin hymns and prayers were recited in various languages, including Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic, reflecting the global reach of the 1.4billion-member Roman Catholic church.
The Vatican estimated 200,000 people had gathered at the start of the service in St Peter’s Square. Aerial views of the Vatican showed a patchwork of colours – black from the dark garb of the world’s leaders, red from the vestments of 250 cardinals, the purple worn by some of the 400 bishops and the white worn by 4,000 attending priests.
The crowd broke into applause when Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral Mass, spoke of Francis’s care for immigrants, his constant pleas for peace, the need for negotiations to end wars and the importance of the climate.
Applause also rang out at the start of the ceremony as 14 white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin, inlaid with a large cross, out of St Peter’s Basilica and into the square.
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The communion rite has followed on from the liturgy of the Eucharist.
Communion was brought upstairs to the roof of the colonnade for journalists and photographers who wish to take it, reports the BBC.
As we approach the end of the funeral mass, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will commend the pope’s soul to God and ask for consolation for the Roman Catholic church. The pope’s coffin will be sprinkled with holy water and incense after more prayers.
Live TV coverage shows the Prayer of the Church in Rome taking place, in which names of saints are sung.
Zelenskyy receives applause as leaders gather for Pope Francis's funeral
Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to receive a round of applause as he attended the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.
The crowd of assembled world leaders could be heard clapping as the Ukrainian president left St Peter’s Basilica, where he had paid his respects in front of the pontiff’s coffin ahead of the funeral ceremony.
US president, Donald Trump, and his wife, Melania, were also among the leaders who filed past the pope’s casket before the funeral. He and Zelenskyy met before the funeral and are expected to do so again afterwards, according to Ukrainian officials.
White House communications director, Steven Cheung, said the pair “had a very productive discussion” when they met.
UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Prince of Wales – who is attending on behalf of King Charles III – did the same before joining the congregation in St Peter’s Square, estimated by the Vatican at 200,000, for the open-air funeral mass.
It is the first time William has represented the monarch at an international funeral. The prince spoke briefly to Trump and the first lady on his way into the service, Kensington Palace said. William also spoke to French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, before the mass, reports the PA news agency.
Starmer was joined in the sunshine of St Peter’s Square by his wife, Victoria, and the foreign secretary, David Lammy.
Irish president, Michael D Higgins, was joined by taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and tanaiste, Simon Harris, in paying respects to the pope inside St Peter’s.
The funeral began shortly after world leaders had taken their seats in the square. The seating plan was based on a complex order of precedence, with Argentina – the country of the pope’s birth – and Italy at the front.
Other sovereigns, heads of state, and heads of government were then seated in alphabetical order of their countries’ names in the French language – used because French is considered the language of diplomacy.
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, shared a photograph on social media from St Peter’s Square, and said it was a “privilege” to represent his nation there.
Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, also travelled to the Vatican for the funeral.
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Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily continued:
With our prayers, we now entrust the soul of our beloved pontiff to God, that he may grant him eternal happiness in the bright and glorious gaze of his immense love.
We are enlightened and guided by the passage of the Gospel, in which the very voice of Christ resounded, asking the first of the Apostles: “Peter, do you love me more than these?” Peter’s answer was prompt and sincere: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!” Jesus then entrusted him with the great mission: “Feed my sheep.” This will be the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love in the footsteps of Christ, our Master and Lord, who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45).
Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life. He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved his sheep to the point of giving his life for them. And he did so with strength and serenity, close to his flock, the Church of God, mindful of the words of Jesus quoted by the Apostle Paul: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
When Cardinal Bergoglio was elected by the Conclave on 13 March 2013 to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, he already had many years of experience in religious life in the Society of Jesus and, above all, was enriched by twenty-one years of pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, first as auxiliary, then as coadjutor and, above all, as archbishop.
The decision to take the name Francis immediately appeared to indicate the pastoral plan and style on which he wanted to base his pontificate, seeking inspiration from the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi.
He maintained his temperament and form of pastoral leadership, and through his resolute personality, immediately made his mark on the governance of the Church. He established direct contact with individuals and peoples, eager to be close to everyone, with a marked attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalised, the least among us. He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the church.
Here is the opening of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily, as delivered earlier during Pope Francis’s funeral mass:
In this majestic Saint Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis celebrated the Eucharist so many times and presided over great gatherings over the past twelve years, we are gathered with sad hearts in prayer around his mortal remains. Yet, we are sustained by the certainty of faith, which assures us that human existence does not end in the tomb, but in the Father’s house, in a life of happiness that will know no end.
On behalf of the College of Cardinals, I cordially thank all of you for your presence. With deep emotion, I extend respectful greetings and heartfelt thanks to the heads of state, heads of government and official delegations who have come from many countries to express their affection, veneration and esteem for our late Holy Father.
The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts.
The final image we have of him, which will remain etched in our memory, is that of last
Sunday, Easter Sunday, when Pope Francis, despite his serious health problems, wanted to give us his blessing from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica. He then came down to this Square to greet the large crowd gathered for the Easter Mass while riding in the open-top popemobile.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily was followed by the liturgy of the Eucharist, where bread and wine are consecrated and then shared.
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Pope Francis believed 'Church is a home for all’: homily
Pope Francis, who famously refused to judge gay or divorced Catholics, believed the Church “is a home for all”, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily.
He was driven by “the conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open … a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds,” he said.
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Trump had 'very productive discussion' with Ukraine's Zelenskiy before Pope Francis funeral, says White House official
US president Donald Trump had a “very productive discussion” with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican City on Saturday, a White House official said.
Steven Cheung, White House communications director, said Trump and Zelenskyy “met privately today and had a very productive discussion”. “More details about the meeting will follow,” he said, reports Reuters.
However, La Republica reported that Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serguii Nykyforov, told some journalists without providing further details: “The meeting took place and has already ended” potentially suggesting no other meetings. The Ukrainian president was greeted with applause from the crowd in St Peter’s Square.
Il Messagario also reported that Trump met Zelenskyy before the funeral and had a hand shake with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who he has not met since his inauguration.
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The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope in March 2013 was unexpected, even to the then cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires himself. He may have come a distant second in the previous papal conclave in 2005, but at 76 and, following the resignation on the grounds of old age of the candidate who had come first back then, the 85-year-old Benedict XVI – Bergoglio was convinced that a younger man was needed.
However, the majority of cardinals who gathered in the Sistine Chapel to vote were looking for something more than (relative) youth. Top of their agenda as they assembled was openness to fresh thinking after 35 years of no change under the almost seamless reigns of Pope John Paul II and Benedict, his erstwhile right-hand man. And so they surprised everyone by opting for Catholicism’s first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American successor to Saint Peter, and first leader from outside Europe in over a millennium.
The break with tradition that Francis, who has died aged 88 from a stroke following double pneumonia, represented even managed to trump the shock value of the resignation of Benedict, who was the first pope for 600 years to take that option rather than die in office. Immediately, Bergoglio signalled unambiguously that he intended to be a different kind of pope, one for the 21st century. He boldly chose to be known as Francis, becoming the first pontiff to take on the name of the radical saint from Assisi who had turned his back on privilege and status in this world, and lived with and for the poor. No more pomp and ceremony, the new pope seemed to be saying, but sleeves rolled up and joining the fight for social and economic justice.
On that night of his election he stepped out on to the balcony overlooking Saint Peter’s Square in simple white robes, refusing the fancy red mozzetta or cape that Benedict had sported when he had been announced as pope. When told to put on white trousers, he later remembered in his autobiography, he replied: “I don’t want to be an ice-cream seller.”
Smiling winningly, Francis described himself as an outsider, someone “from the end of the world”, who wanted to “walk together and work together” with the crowds who greeted him, rather than tell them what to do.
The excitement was palpable for believers and non-believers alike. Next, Francis declined to move into the gilded papal apartment vacated by his predecessor. Instead he was going to remain in the small room in the Santa Marta hostel in the Vatican where he had stayed during the conclave.
This personal modesty never wavered in all his years in Rome. He picked up his own phone, shunned limos and preferred to walk if possible (sciatica later caused him to use a wheelchair) – as, for example, on the day after his election when he slipped away on foot to collect his suitcase and settle the bill at the modest pensione where he had been booked in before the conclave began. If it had to be four wheels, he took a bus, or frequently squeezed his bulky frame into the papal Fiat 500 saloon.
Francis is remembered as a 'pope among the people' in his funeral mass
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogised Pope Francis on Saturday as a pope of the people, a paster who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” with an informal, spontaneous style.
Re called Francis “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone”.
He recalled the last image many people have of Francis was of him delivering what would become his final blessing on Easter Sunday, and saluting from the popemobile in the same piazza where his funeral was being celebrated.
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Tens of thousands of mourners have packed into St Peter’s Square today for Pope Francis’s funeral.
Some waited overnight to get a seat for the ceremony, with police reporting 150,000 people in the square and surrounding streets even before proceedings began at 10am, local time (9am GMT).
The crowds cheered and applauded as the pope’s coffin was brought out of St Peter’s Basilica into the square, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Here are some images, via the newswires, of mourners in St Peter’s Square:
You can follow the funeral mass via the live stream at the top of this blog (you may need to refresh the page).
We have just heard a reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians. Prior to this, Kielce Gussie, a journalist from Vatican News, gave a reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
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The funeral mass is being led by the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals.
Pope Francis’s funeral mass has begun with the entrance antiphon – a selection of psalm verses or scripture passages that are traditionally sung or recited.
The 88-page order of service has been published on the Vatican’s website (NB: opens as pdf) and contains the service in English, Italian and Latin.
Here is the entrance antiphon:
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
Praise is due to you in Sion, O God. To you we pay our vows in Jerusalem.
You who hear our prayer. To you all flesh will come.
Our evil deeds are too heavy for us, but only you can pardon our transgressions.
Blessed the one whom you choose and call to dwell in your courts.
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you.
And with your spirit.
Pope Francis’s funeral begins at St Peter's Square
Pope Francis’s funeral has begun, with live TV coverage showing his coffin being carried out from St Peter’s Basilica out into St Peter’s Square.
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Here is an image of US president Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arriving at the Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral.
The pope’s funeral provides an unexpected opportunity for impromptu international diplomacy and uncomfortable encounters. The 10am start means most heads of state and political leaders will arrive in Rome on Friday evening, with a brief window for meetings if desired.
Should Donald Trump be kept away from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy? Or the French president, Emmanuel Macron, or Brazil’s leftist leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or any Iranians that might appear? There may be relief that Vladimir Putin has said he will not attend, but will everyone expect front row seats?
“There will be some potentially really interesting dynamics at the funeral,” said Francis Campbell, who was the UK’s ambassador to the Holy See between 2005 and 2011.
The last comparable occasion, the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, was the “diplomatic event of the year”, according to the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. It “brought numerous world leaders together, including many that would not normally appear in the same country, let alone the same room”.
The funeral came amid the intensity of the Iraq war – which John Paul II had opposed. When a closeup image of President George Bush’s face appeared on large outdoor television monitors, jeering erupted from the crowd.
Bush found himself sitting close to the leaders of Iran, Syria and Cuba. He and his ally Tony Blair gave them the cold shoulder.
In contrast, Prince Charles committed a diplomatic faux pas by shaking the hand of Zimbabwe’s pariah president Robert Mugabe, who had side-stepped an EU travel ban to attend the service. Charles was apparently caught by surprise when Mugabe leaned over to greet him. A statement later noted “the prince finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent”.
Another handshake, between the presidents of arch-enemies Israel and Iran, was seen as a potentially historic moment – until Mohammad Khatami of Iran later denied the handshake ever happened.
Meanwhile, China boycotted the funeral because of the attendance of the Taiwanese president. The Vatican is one of only a handful of nations to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan – though its president will not be in Rome on Saturday.
Prince William arrives at the Vatican for Pope Francis's funeral
Prince William, attending the funeral on behalf of King Charles, has arrived.
Dignitaries can be seen taking their seats on live TV coverage, with Pope Francis’s funeral mass to begin in just a few minutes.
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Trump arrives at Pope Francis’s funeral
US president Donald Trump paid his respects to Pope Francis at his coffin after arriving at the Vatican on Saturday for the pontiff’s funeral.
Official Vatican images showed Trump and his wife, Melania, stopping by the closed coffin in St Peter’s Basilica after his motorcade had arrived at the Vatican.
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Italy's Meloni and Argentina's Milei arrive for Pope Francis's funeral
Here are images of some of the dignitaries arriving for Pope Francis’s funeral today:
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During Pope Francis’s funeral heads of state and dignitaries will be seated on the right side, facing St Peter’s Basilica.
It’s reported that Argentine president Javier Milei, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Italian president Sergio Mattarella will be seated in the front row. Reigning sovereigns will be seated in the next row, followed by the various heads of state, according to the French alphabetical order corresponding to the name of their country.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires. His father Mario’s parents had travelled to Argentina in 1929 from Portacomaro in Piedmont, northern Italy, wanting to escape a country swept up with the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Mario married Regina Sivori in 1935. The following year, Jorge, the oldest of their five children, was born.
The family spoke Spanish at their single-storey home, 531 Calle Membrillar, in Flores, but with his grandparents – who lived just round the corner in the Almagro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires – the young Jorge learned Italian, or the Piedmontese dialect of their upbringing. His father worked for an accounting firm and, while the family was not poor, money was always tight. At school, Jorge excelled in chemistry, though he later insisted he was never top of the class. Outside it, he liked football (following a local team, San Lorenzo), tango and girls. There was even a girlfriend, Amalia Damonte.
Aged 17, he attended mass in his local church of San José de Flores and was so moved by the sermon of a visiting priest, Enrique Pozzoli, that he sought him out in the confessional. In the course of their exchange, he recalled later, he discovered his religious vocation. His mother was not pleased, he recalled. “She experienced it as a plundering.”
He fell seriously ill at 21 with pneumonia and doctors feared for his life. Three cysts were found on his right lung and part of it was removed in a brutal operation. The brush with death strengthened his determination to become a priest and he entered a Jesuit seminary soon afterwards. Mother and son were finally reconciled in December 1969 when he was ordained after 12 years’ training.
By that stage, Bergoglio was 33 and had gained a philosophy degree at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. He taught for a while – philosophy and literature – before in 1973 he was elected as the youngest-ever provincial of Jesuits in Argentina. It turned out to be a poisoned chalice.
His six years in charge overlapped with the military junta that ruled the country between 1976 and 1983, during which period between 15,000 and 30,000 Argentinians “disappeared” or were killed. Like the country’s Catholic church, the Jesuits were divided in how to react to events. Both contained progressive elements opposed to the dictatorship and more conservative ones, including prominent military chaplains privy to human rights abuses.
You can read more about the life of Pope Francis here:
State-of-the-art defence and security mechanisms have been deployed across Rome and in the skies above the capital, including anti-drone weaponry, a no-fly zone patrolled by fighter jets, and sophisticated jamming technologies. Anti-terrorism and anti-sabotage units are also already on the ground.
The basilica and the surrounding area are being patrolled by more than 2,000 police officers between now and the end of the conclave that is expected to take place early next month in order to choose Pope Francis’s successor. They will be supported by 400 traffic police officers who will help manage the movement of the diplomatic convoys.
It’s a sunny spring morning in Rome as long queues file into St Peter’s Square, hymns are played and TV crews marked their spots on the edge of the square in preparation for Pope Francis’s funeral. More than 2,000 journalists from around the world have descended on Rome to report on the event.
Among the pilgrims were Rosa Cirielli and her friend Pina Sanarico, who left their homes in Taranto, in southern Italy, at 5am, and managed to secure themselves a decent position in front of a huge TV screen positioned on Via Della Concillazione, the road connecting Rome to Vatican City, from where they’ll follow the ceremony.
“When Pope Francis was alive, he gave us hope. Now we have this huge hole,” said Cirielli. “He left us during a very ugly period for the world. He was the only one who loudly called for peace.”
Virginio and his wife, Anna Maria, travelled to Rome from Naples. They’re here to reflect on Francis but are also contemplating who will follow him.
“We hope the new pope continues along the same line as Francis,” said Anna Maria.
How to watch the pope’s funeral in Australia
Australian viewers can tune in to watch Pope Francis’s funeral on free-to-air television, or stream it online.
The service, set to begin at 10am local time in the Vatican, will be shown on the ABC’s news channel and streamed on YouTube. Programming is expected to start from 6pm in the eastern states, 5.30pm in the Northern Territory and South Australia and 4pm in Western Australia.
Nine Go, 7news, Sky News and SBS are also covering the events.
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Joe and Jill Biden have also now arrived.
Which dignitaries will attend Pope Francis's funeral?
At least 130 foreign delegations, including about “50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs”, would attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Heads of state and government who have confirmed their attendance at the funeral include Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Javier Milei, the president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina. Francis had a delicate relationship with politics in his home country, but Milei hailed his “goodness and wisdom”.
Macron said at a press conference during a visit to Réunion:
We will be present at the pope’s funeral, as is only right.
Trump, who repeatedly clashed with Francis over immigration, said on Monday that he would be attending with his wife, Melania. “We look forward to being there!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Francis “prayed for peace in Ukraine”, is to attend and has arrived in Rome, as just reported. The Ukrainian leader had earlier said he might miss the funeral due to important “military meetings”.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an international criminal court arrest warrant over his invasion of Ukraine, would not attend, the Kremlin said.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and António Costa, the president of the European Council, will both travel to Rome, officials said.
Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace said. Charles and Camilla visited the late pope during a state visit to Italy earlier this month.
Other royal guests include King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, with Felipe calling the 88-year-old pontiff “an enormous ethical beacon of our world, of our time”.
Others expected to attend include the UN secretary general, António Guterres; Sergio Mattarella and Giorgia Meloni, the president and prime minister of Italy, respectively; Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland; Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and its prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will also attend, while the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will not attend but will be represented by the country’s interior minister, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the president of the Philippines – which has one of the world’s largest Catholic populations – also will be in Rome.
Russia will be represented by its culture minister, Olga Lyubimova.
Among the opposition party leaders attending are Alberto Núñez Feijóo of Spain’s conservative People’s party, and Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally party. Despite his party’s anti-immigration stance, Bardella recently praised the late pope’s “constant attention to the forgotten and the dignity of the most vulnerable”.
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Zelenskky arrives in Rome for funeral
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskky, has arrived in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, according to reports in the Italian press.
The pope will make his final journey later today towards his burial tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica aboard a popemobile, Corriere reported. The vehicle was previously used on one of his trips overseas and has been especially adapted.
The newspaper said that the popemobile was deemed to be the “best solution” so that people could see his coffin as it passes at walking pace through the streets of central Rome.
It was only last Sunday when the late pontiff entered St Peter’s Square on a popemobile, delighting the crowds gathered for Easter Sunday mass before appearing on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. It was his final public appearance.
Route of the funeral procession – map
Pope Francis’s funeral will be held in St Peter’s Square in Rome at 10am local time. The outdoor service, which will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, is expected to be attended by dignitaries from 170 foreign delegations, as well as tens of thousands of ordinary people wanting to pay their respects.
Once the funeral mass has finished, Francis’s coffin will be taken, in procession, to Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican announced that people will be able to visit Francis’s tomb in the basilica from Sunday morning.
Below is a map of the route the funeral procession will take from Vatican City to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, where the late pope will be buried.
The Vatican’s YouTube channel will broadcast the funeral for viewers around the world.
Plus, here is where you can watch live coverage of the pope’s funeral in the UK, according to the PA news agency:
On BBC One, newsreader Reeta Chakrabarti will present the broadcaster’s coverage, with a BBC News special beginning at 8.30am on Saturday and scheduled to continue until 12.30pm.
Sky News presenter Anna Botting will host a live from Rome, with commentary from the former governor of Edinburgh Castle, Maj Gen Alastair Bruce of Crionaich. The broadcast begins at 7am and will last until 1pm, with Sky News Europe correspondent Adam Parsons live from St Peter’s Square, and specialist correspondent Lisa Holland broadcasting from the Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to the square.
ITV said it will have a live stream on its online platform ITVX during the day.
The Vatican on Friday said 150,000 people have already paid their respects to Pope Francis, whose body lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica ahead of his funeral.
Between 11am (9am GMT) on Wednesday and midday on Friday, more than 150,000 people had filed past Francis’s body, a Vatican spokesperson said.
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The oldest child of Italians who migrated to Argentina, Pope Francis had, from the start, made the defence of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy, ensuring in July 2013 that his first pastoral trip outside Rome was to the remote island of Lampedusa.
The tiny rocky strip had emerged as a magnet for smuggling rings bringing people across the Mediterranean from north Africa.
In what would be described as a spur-of-the-moment decision, Francis elected to visit the island in the wake of migrant deaths in a fatal crossing. Residents who cried “viva il Papa” as he was whisked round in an open-topped Fiat voiced incredulity that the Catholic leader would choose to travel to the farthest reaches of Italy for an official tour dedicated solely to migrants and refugees.
But the pilgrimage had a goal. For Francis it amounted to the symbolic embrace of something much wider; the beginning of a pontificate that deliberately sought to minister to the marginalised and poor.
In Lampedusa – as in Lesbos three years later – the pope was as determined to express compassion for the living as for those who had died embarking on perilous journeys. “Who wept for these people who were aboard the boat?” he asked during an open-air mass after tossing a wreath into the sea in their memory. “For the young mothers who brought their babies? For these men who wanted to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten how to cry.”
Later he would confide that the tragedy in Lampedusa had “made me feel the duty to travel” in an effort to not only highlight the plight of refugees but “encourage the seeds of hope that are there”.
Serie A has postponed its three fixtures on Saturday because of Pope Francis’s funeral being held that day in Rome. Meanwhile, Italy’s Women’s Six Nations match against Wales is also expected to be rescheduled as the country prepares to pay its respects.
Earlier media reports in Italy had suggested that Serie A might make an exception for Inter’s clash with the visitors Roma to allow Simone Inzaghi’s side additional rest time before their midweek Champions League semi-final at Barcelona. However, the league has confirmed that the game at San Siro will now kick off at 2pm (all times BST) on Sunday.
Lazio were to play Parma in Rome on Saturday, which has been rescheduled for Monday at 7.45pm, while Como’s home game with Genoa has been moved to Sunday at 11.30am. Serie A postponed its Easter Monday matches after the pope’s death, with the games rescheduled for Wednesday, and on Tuesday Italy’s National Olympic Committee requested the suspension of all sporting events scheduled for Saturday.
Pope Francis chose to break with the traditions surrounding papal funerals in April last year when he approved a set of simplified rules that allow a pope to be “laid out and buried like any son or daughter of the church”, without the use of an elevated bier topped with cushions. Or, as Francis himself put it:
With dignity, but not on cushions. In my opinion, the ritual was too ornate.
Papal funerals have traditionally involved three coffins, with the body of the pope placed in a coffin of cypress wood, which is then placed inside one of lead, which, in turn, is put inside a coffin of oak. Francis, however, stipulated that he wanted his body to be placed in a single, simple coffin made of wood and lined with zinc.
Timetable
Here is a timetable of Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday and the events to follow. All timings are in local time:
10am: The funeral mass will begin and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals.
As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.
The public can begin visiting Pope Francis’s tomb at the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore “as early as Sunday morning”, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni announced.
A conclave to choose a new pope normally takes place 15 to 20 days after the death of a pontiff, meaning it should not start before 6 May. The exact date will be decided by cardinals after Francis’ funeral.
Opening summary
The funeral of Pope Francis will be held today at St Peter’s Square, with a host of world leaders and royals including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and the Prince of Wales in attendance.
The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in the Vatican on Monday aged 88 after a stroke. He had been recovering from double pneumonia for which he was hospitalised for five weeks.
The funeral mass will begin at 10am local time and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, in what is expected to be a solemn ceremony.
In the run-up to Francis’s funeral, tens of thousands lined up to pay their respects to the pope as his body lay in state in an open wooden coffin in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday morning. By Friday morning, more than 130,000 people had filed past the coffin.
As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.
He specified that he wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
The cost of his burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which Francis transferred to the basilica, he wrote in his will.
About 50,000 people attended the funeral of Francis’s immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict, which was also held in St Peter’s Square, in January 2023.
We will bring you updates from Pope Francis’s funeral on this live blog.
