The body of Pope Francis, laid out in an open coffin, was carried in a solemn procession on Wednesday from his residence within the walls of Vatican City to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Red-hatted cardinals, priests, candle-carrying friars and helmeted Swiss Guards walked slowly into the vast, sunlit esplanade as a male choir chanted psalms and prayers in Latin while the great bells of the basilica tolled.
The body of the 88-year-old Pope, who died two days ago in his rooms at the Santa Marta guest house after suffering a stroke, was held aloft on a wooden platform by 14 white-gloved, black-suited pallbearers.
“Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow we now accompany the mortal remains of our Pope Francis to the Vatican Basilica,” said the Irish-American cardinal Kevin Farrell at the start of the ceremony.
As the coffin crossed St. Peter’s Square, a crowd of several thousand broke into repeated applause, a traditional Italian sign of respect at such events.
Catholics and global dignitaries have started descending on Vatican City to pay respects to Pope Francis ahead of his funeral on Saturday. Now, his progressive legacy may influence the choice for his successor, which will begin in the coming weeks.
Pilgrims arrive from around world
Pope Francis, who spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year being treated for double pneumonia, last appeared in public on Sunday, when he surprised pilgrims by being driven around the packed square in his white, open-topped popemobile.
His body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica until Friday evening, allowing the faithful to pay their respects.
“He’s like a member of the family. Somebody very close to our hearts, somebody who made the church very accessible to everybody and inclusive to everybody,” said Rachel Mckay, a pilgrim from Britain who was in the square.
U.S. pilgrim Sylvia Cantu Stewart said she had come to see Carlo , who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006, become a saint.
“Our plans have changed, and we feel that it’s a God [plan] that we’re here,” she said, saying she felt “blessed” by the coincidence.
Dozens of cardinals stood together in the basilica as the wooden coffin was laid on a dais in front of the altar, built on the spot where St. Peter, the first pope, is believed to have been buried after dying as a martyr in the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68 AD).
Francis’s body was dressed in red vestments, his hands clasped together holding a rosary, and a white miter on his head.
Francis shunned much of the great pomp and ceremony traditionally associated with the role of head of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. Francis will be the first pope since Leo XIII in 1903 to be buried outside of the Vatican, with his final resting place to be the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major basilicas of Christendom in Rome.
His funeral is set for Saturday and will draw heads of state and government from around the world, including leaders from Italy, France, Germany, Britain, the United States and Francis’s home nation of Argentina. Canada has yet to announce its delegation.
At least 200,000 people are expected to attend the outdoor service, the head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Fabio Ciciliano, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
A conclave to choose the new pope is not expected to start before May 6, with cardinals now flocking to Rome only due to decide the date following what are often prolonged discussions.
Some 135 cardinals are eligible to participate in the secretive conclave, which can stretch over days before white smoke pouring from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel tells the world that a new pope has been picked.
In the meantime, in the period known as the “sede vacante” (vacant seat) for the global Catholic Church, cardinal Farrell is in charge of day-to-day affairs.
LISTEN l Massimo Faggioli, Villanova University professor of historical theology, on Francis’s legacy:
Front Burner22:36The legacy of Pope Francis
