Pope Francis lies in state at St Peter’s Basilica

Catholic cardinals performed the ritual ceremony to transfer Pope Francis to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the Argentinian pontiff will lie here in state for three days of public viewing. This is largely for ordinary Catholics to pay their respects and to grieve the 88-year-old pope. The simple wooden coffin carrying the pope, who died Monday morning after suffering a stroke and heart failure, was brought in a procession on Wednesday morning to the basilica from his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he died.

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis’ funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. eastern) on Saturday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, following a meeting of the College of Cardinals at the Catholic Church’s city-state headquarters in the heart of Rome. A steady stream of cardinals, the most senior prelates in the Catholic Church, were the first to file up to Francis’ coffin on Wednesday.

Church officials also shared some details on Tuesday about the pope’s final hours, describing “a discreet death, almost sudden, without long suffering or public alarm.”

The funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday will draw “Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and priests from across the globe,” the Vatican said. Several world leaders and other dignitaries will also attend it. President Trump said Monday that he and first lady Melania would attend, as did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and France’s Emmanuel Macron. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was to attend, along with a number of other European heads of state, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

After the funeral Mass at St. Peter’s, Pope Francis’ coffin will be taken to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, where he will be entombed. The pope chose to be buried at the smaller basilica, which is about four miles away, outside the Vatican walls. He prayed at St. Mary’s often, before and after international trips during his 12-year pontificate.

The cardinals haven’t set a date for the conclave to elect Francis’ successor, but the current norms suggest it couldn’t begin before May 5. The Cardinal Electors will gather at the Vatican and seal themselves off from the world behind the doors of the Sistine Chapel for the papal conclave, the centuries-old process of choosing the next pope. Only cardinals under the age of 80 — currently a group of about 135 — are eligible to vote in a conclave.