Tens of thousands of people have lined up in Vatican City to catch a final glimpse of Pope Francis as he lay in state for a second day and Italian authorities stepped up security arrangements before his weekend funeral.
Francis died aged 88 on Monday morning in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, having only recently left hospital after five weeks of being treated for double pneumonia.
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About 61,000 people had filed past the late Catholic leader’s red-lined wooden coffin in the first 26 hours since Francis began lying in state at St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning, the Vatican said.
Such was the demand to see him that authorities extended visiting hours on Wednesday from midnight (22:00 GMT) until 5:30am (03:30 GMT) on Thursday.
After a break of just one and a half hours, the doors opened again with authorities saying the window might again be extended on Thursday night if necessary.
Each mourner was ushered past the casket within seconds while authorities on Thursday banned the use of smartphones inside the basilica.
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A day earlier, the flow of mourners was slower as many people tried to take photos and videos.
“It was a brief but intense moment next to his body,” Italian Massimo Palo, 63, told the AFP news agency after his visit.
“He was a pope amongst his flock, amongst his people, and I hope the next papacies will be a bit like his,” he added.
“He was a wonderful pope,” Rome resident Alessandra Caccamo told the Reuters news agency as she queued outside the Vatican.
“I’m going to miss him so much because it’s like I’ve lost a piece of me.”
The head of the pontiff’s medical team said in interviews published on Thursday that Francis had died quickly from an unexpected stroke and did not suffer undue pain.
“I entered his rooms and he had his eyes open,” Sergio Alfieri told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“I ascertained that there were no respiratory problems, and then I tried to call his name, but he did not respond to me.”
“In that moment, I knew there was nothing more to do,” Alfieri said.
Funeral preparations under way
The coffin is due to be sealed on Friday at 8pm (18:00 GMT) in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo who is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected.
More than 170 delegations – including heads of state and government and other dignitaries, such as United States President Donald Trump, Argentinian President Javier Milei and Britain’s Prince William – are expected in St. Peter’s Square for Saturday’s funeral as millions more people watch on television across the globe.
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Italy’s Civil Protection Department estimated that “several hundred thousand” people will descend on Rome on what was already set to be a busy weekend due to a public holiday.
After the funeral, Francis’s coffin will be taken to his favourite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
A group of “poor and needy” will be present at the basilica to welcome the coffin, the Vatican said.
He will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus. People will be able to visit it from Sunday morning, the Vatican announced.
Election for new pope
After that, all eyes will turn to the process of choosing Francis’s successor.
“A chapter in the church’s history has been closed,” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller told the Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Thursday.
Mueller is one of the 135 cardinals eligible to vote in the secret conclave that will be held next month to elect the Catholic Church’s 267th pontiff.
Before the conclave, which is not expected to begin until at least May 6, cardinals already in Rome are meeting each day, primarily to discuss logistical matters for the day-to-day running of the 1.4 billion-member church.
Thursday’s meeting lasted about three hours and 113 cardinals took part, the Vatican said. The next meeting is expected on Friday morning, but the cardinals will not meet on the day of the funeral.
Every cardinal taking part in the meetings must take an oath to “scrupulously maintain” secrecy over any discussions about the election of the next pope.
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