By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda updated at 1303 EAT on Tuesday 22 April 2025

Pope Francis’s coffin will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica tomorrow for the public to pay their respects. He will then be laid to rest in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major on Saturday.

There’s a steady stream of people going into the church of St Mary Major, where the Pope has asked to be laid to rest after his funeral on Saturday.

Barriers stretching down the street indicate an even bigger influx is expected in the coming days.

A policeman tells me: “There’s lots of people here this morning, more than usual, and some have been quite emotional.

“People have been asking whether this is where the Pope will rest. We’re expecting lots more people from Saturday. They may well have to close off the square. But it’s nice to know this is where he’ll rest.”

The most senior member of the Catholic Church in the UK, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, says that a “serious voice has fallen silent” now the Pope has died.

The cardinal is among those eligible to cast their vote for – and possibly become – the next Pope as part of the mysterious conclave process to be held after the funeral.

Nichols says Francis’s voice spoke directly to countless people all over the world.

“He spoke with those on the margins of society. He said if you want to know how successful your economy is, go and speak with an unemployed person.”

“This voice, filled with compassion and mercy and righteous indignation, is now silent.”

Even before the Vatican announced that Pop Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday, a number of world leaders confirmed their attendance.

Within hours of Francis’s death, Argentinian President Javier Milei said he would attend the service.

US President Donald Trump says he will travel to Vatican City alongside First Lady Melania Trump.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also confirmed that he will be there. And as we mentioned in the post below, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to make an appearance.

Dozens of world leaders and religious figures are likely to attend the funeral, alongside hundreds of worshippers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend Pope Francis’s funeral, AFP says, citing a source from the presidency.

The source reportedly told the agency that Zelensky’s office is “preparing the president’s visit to Rome to bid farewell to the pontiff”.

As we’ve been reporting, the funeral will take place on 26 April at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST).

Pope Francis’s funeral will take place outdoors in front of St Peter’s Basilica.

The dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, will lead the service.

At the end of the funeral, Re will deliver the final commendation – a concluding prayer where the Pope will be formally entrusted to God – and the body moved to St Mary Major for the burial.

Pope Francis will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning at 09:00 local time (08:00 BST), the Vatican has announced.

The Pope’s coffin will be there until the burial for the public to pay their respects.

His body is currently laid out in a coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his 12-year papacy

According to Church custom, it should typically be held within four to six days after the pontiff’s death – with the funeral mass taking place in St Peter’s Square.

Papal funerals have traditionally been elaborate affairs, but Pope Francis acted last year to simplify his arrangements.

He will be the first Pope in more than a century not to be buried in the Vatican, in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica – opting instead to be laid to rest in Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, near his favourite icon of the Madonna.

He also requested to be buried in a simple wooden casket, unlike his predecessors who were buried in the traditional three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.

China’s foreign ministry has expressed condolences over the death of Pope Francis in a statement released more than 24 hours after he died.

“China and the Vatican have maintained constructive contact and carried out friendly exchanges,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun says. “China is willing to make joint efforts with the Vatican to promote the continued improvement of China-Vatican relations.”

The relationship between the Vatican and China has long been a testy one, with the issue of who appoints bishops at the heart of a dispute since China first broke off diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951

Cardinals are meeting today for the first time to decide when Pope Francis’s body will be moved to St Peter’s Basilica – and when the funeral will take place.

According to the apostolic constitution, the Universi Dominici Gregis – meaning the Lord’s whole flock – the service should happen “between the fourth and sixth day after death”.

That would put the date of the funeral between Friday 25 April – Liberation Day in Italy, a national holiday – and Sunday 27 April.

Multiple Italian outlets are reporting the service is likely to be scheduled for Saturday, with national news agency Ansa citing Vatican sources.

In the last few minutes, multiple Italian outlets have shared an unpublished work Pope Francis wrote shortly before his death.

In the preface of a soon-to-be published book by Cardinal Angelo Scola, the pontiff wrote: “Death is not the end but the start of something.

“It’s a new beginning, as the title [of the book, Waiting for a new beginning. Reflections on old age] wisely suggests because eternal life, which is something those who love life experience on Earth in their everyday occupations, is to start something that will never end.

“And it is precisely for this reason that it is a ‘new’ beginning, because we will experience something that we have never fully experienced: eternity,” he added.

In his final testament Pope Francis expressed his wish to be buried in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.

“I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey,” he said.

The pontiff, who has come to be known for favouring simplicity over pomp, also asked for a tomb “without ornamentation” and with only the inscription “Franciscus”.

On the cost of the burial, the late Pope said it would be covered by a benefactor which he had arranged to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

Mourners from around the world have been queueing to visit St Peter’s Square in Vatican City this morning.

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