The Vatican has announced on Tuesday that Pope Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday with world leaders from US and Ukraine attending to honour the Catholic leader.
The Argentina Pope died on Monday from stroke after returning home, having spent five weeks in the hospital battling double pneumonia.
The funeral, expected to attract massive crowds, is scheduled for 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
As he had wished, Francis’s coffin, crafted from wood and lined with zinc will be carried into St. Peter’s Basilica before being transported to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for burial.
The funeral date was confirmed during the first “general congregation” of cardinals on Tuesday morning, marking the beginning of the centuries old process that will ultimately lead to the election of a new pope within three weeks.
Earlier in the day, the Vatican released the first official photographs of the late pontiff resting in his open coffin, ahead of its transfer to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the body will lie in state from 9:00 am (0700 GMT) on Wednesday.
The photos were taken during a private service held Monday evening in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence where Francis had lived throughout his 12-year papacy and where he passed away.
