The Vatican kept the doors of San Pedro Basilica Open all night on Wednesday due to the great participation of faithful Catholics determined to say goodbye to the late Pope Francis.
AP reports that the last numbers published by the Vatican said that more than 20,000 people had presented their respect for the 88 -year -old who spent the first 8 and a half hours of the Public visualization On Wednesday.
The basilica closed for only one hour of the morning, from 6 am to 7 am, the planned opening schedule.
By Wednesday night, the wait to see open coffee seemed to be three or four hours and growing, according to the departure, while Miles waited to see Francis and in state, perched on a ramp that faces the mourners, with four standing Swiss.
A person who did the management of the crowd estimated that the wait was closer to five hours. The mourners extended through the center of Via della Coniliazione, in a lane reserved for the pilgrims of the jubilee.
After three days of public visualization, a funeral mass will take place on Saturday in the Plaza de San Pedro to celebrate the Pontificate of 12 years of Francis.
The faithful aligns in the Basilica of San Pedro to say goodbye to Pope Francis. Before the funeral of 26.04.2025, visitors can see the deceased Pope once in the open coffin. (Michael Kappeler/Picture Alliance through Getty Images)
A minute of silence will be a hero in Italy as the service begins at 10 am with tens of thousands of members of the public who are expected to attend.
They will provide a backdrop for a selection of world leaders, dignitaries and heads of state that are expected to be personally available, including the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the French president Emmanuel Macron, the British prime minister Keir Starmer, reports outgoing Gerafir Scholzyr.
The Pope will be buried in a niche inside the Basilica Mayor of Santa María, near his favorite Madonna icon.
The current three days of public visualization in the basilica are designed to allow ordinary workingps to cry their loss of the strong Catholic Church of 1.4 billion.
Associated Press and UPI contributed to this story
