Pope Francis’ body transferred to St Peter’s Basilica for 3 days of public viewing

The bells of St Peter’s tolled on Wednesday as the body of Pope Francis was transferred from the Vatican hotel where he lived to the basilica, escorted by a procession of solemn cardinals and Swiss Guards through the same piazza where he had greeted the faithful from his Popemobile just days before in what became his final goodbye.

Pallbearers carried the simple wooden coffin on their shoulders through the Vatican’s archway gates into St Peter’s Square and into the basilica, the cardinals in their scarlet cassocks and the Swiss Guards in their golden and blue uniforms processing slowly behind.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican temporarily until a new pope is elected, led the procession, with clouds of incense preceding him as the church choir began chanting the Litany of Saints hymn.

Heads of state are expected for Francis’ funeral on Saturday, but the three days of public viewing in the basilica will allow ordinary Catholics to grieve the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday after suffering a stroke. The basilica was being kept open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to allow the faithful to mourn. The public mourning period will end on Friday at 7pm, when Francis’ casket is closed and sealed.

Mourners in the piazza watched as Francis’ casket passed them by, along the same path the pope had travelled just days before, on Easter Sunday, in what became his final Popemobile tour through the faithful. It was a surprise salute, which Francis decided at the last minute after being assured by his nurse he could do it despite his continued frail health from pneumonia.

Francis first lay in state in the Domus Santa Marta hotel in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household. Images released by the Vatican on Tuesday showed Francis lying in an open casket, wearing the traditional pointed headdress of bishops and red robes, his hands folded over a rosary. The Vatican’s No 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was pictured praying by Francis.

Once inside the basilica, Francis’ casket wasn’t put on an elevated bier – as was the case with past popes – but was just placed on an inclined ramp in the main altar of the 16th-century basilica, facing the pews, with four Swiss Guards standing at attention by its side. It was in keeping with Francis’ own wishes for all the rituals surrounding a papal funeral to be simplified and reflect the pope’s role as a simple pastor, not a world leader.

  

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