Mourners cram Vatican during last chance to pay respects to Pope Francis
by Paul Godfrey · UPIApril 25 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the Vatican on Friday for a last chance to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis as a three-day-long period of lying in state entered its final few hours.
Access to the line to view the body in St. Peter's Basilica will close at about 6 p.m. local time to allow time for people to reach the main altar where Francis is lying in his open coffin by 7 p.m. when the doors to the 16th century basilica will be shut for final preparations for his funeral on Saturday morning, the Vatican said.
The BBC reported that the crowds were noticeably larger than on Thursday, when the Holy See estimated 90,000 people had filed past the coffin since it went on public display on Wednesday.
A major security presence was building in St. Peter's Square ahead of the funeral, which is expected to be attended by 50 heads of state, about 130 international delegations, 10 reigning monarchs and 200,000 members of the public, with mounted police, snipers, sniffer dogs, and heavily armed troops, some equipped with outsized electronic "jammer" guns to disable unauthorized drones attempting to overfly the Vatican.
Preparations in the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica were at an advanced stage and foreign leaders and international delegations had already begun arriving in Rome for Saturday's funeral mass.
Those attending include U.S. President Donald Trump and former U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Israel, which only extended its condolences late Thursday, four days after Francis's death on Easter Monday, is not sending a senior official and will be represented by its ambassador. Francis had previously repeatedly criticized Israel's war on Gaza and called for a Palestinian state.
With nine days of official mourning to begin immediately upon the conclusion of the funeral mass, the College of Cardinals, made up of 252 representatives from countries around the world, is not now expected to form a papal conclave -- the secret process to elect a new pope -- until May 5.
To elect a pope, 135 cardinals -- all under 80 years of age -- are sequestered in the Vatican until 90 of them agree on a candidate. Voting takes place in the Sistine Chapel with smoke signals used to relay the outcome -- black smoke from the chapel's smokestack means no decision; white indicates a new pope has been chosen.
Early favorites to replace Francis include Cardinal-Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, a 67-year-old reformer from the Philippines, and Italian Pietro Parolin, 70, who currently serves as the Vatican's secretary of state.