Pope Francis funeral: world leaders to join thousands of mourners for ceremony – latest updates
Zelenskky arrives in Rome for funeral
Angela Giuffrida
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskky, has arrived in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, according to reports in the Italian press.
The pope will make his final journey later today towards his burial tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica aboard a popemobile, Corriere reported. The vehicle was previously used on one of his trips overseas and has been especially adapted.
The newspaper said that the popemobile was deemed to be the “best solution” so that people could see his coffin as it passes at walking pace through the streets of central Rome.
It was only last Sunday when the late pontiff entered St Peter’s Square on a popemobile, delighting the crowds gathered for Easter Sunday mass before appearing on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. It was his final public appearance.
Key events
Petra Stock
How to watch the pope’s funeral in Australia
Australian viewers can tune in to watch Pope Francis’s funeral on free-to-air television, or stream it online.
The service, set to begin at 10am local time in the Vatican, will be shown on the ABC’s news channel and streamed on YouTube. Programming is expected to start from 6pm in the eastern states, 5.30 in the Northern Territory and South Australia and 4pm in Western Australia.
Nine Go, 7news, Sky News and SBS are also covering the events.
Joe and Jill Biden have also now arrived.
Which dignitaries will attend Pope Francis’s funeral?
Angela Giuffrida
At least 130 foreign delegations, including about “50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs”, would attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Heads of state and government who have confirmed their attendance at the funeral include Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Javier Milei, the president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina. Francis had a delicate relationship with politics in his home country, but Milei hailed his “goodness and wisdom”.
Macron said at a press conference during a visit to Réunion:
We will be present at the pope’s funeral, as is only right.
Trump, who repeatedly clashed with Francis over immigration, said on Monday that he would be attending with his wife, Melania. “We look forward to being there!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Francis “prayed for peace in Ukraine”, is to attend and has arrived in Rome, as just reported. The Ukrainian leader had earlier said he might miss the funeral due to important “military meetings”.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an international criminal court arrest warrant over his invasion of Ukraine, would not attend, the Kremlin said.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and António Costa, the president of the European Council, will both travel to Rome, officials said.
Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace said. Charles and Camilla visited the late pope during a state visit to Italy earlier this month.
Other royal guests include King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, with Felipe calling the 88-year-old pontiff “an enormous ethical beacon of our world, of our time”.
Others expected to attend include the UN secretary general, António Guterres; Sergio Mattarella and Giorgia Meloni, the president and prime minister of Italy, respectively; Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland; Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and its prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will also attend, while the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will not attend but will be represented by the country’s interior minister, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the president of the Philippines – which has one of the world’s largest Catholic populations – also will be in Rome.
Russia will be represented by its culture minister, Olga Lyubimova.
Among the opposition party leaders attending are Alberto Núñez Feijóo of Spain’s conservative People’s party, and Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally party. Despite his party’s anti-immigration stance, Bardella recently praised the late pope’s “constant attention to the forgotten and the dignity of the most vulnerable”.
Zelenskky arrives in Rome for funeral
Angela Giuffrida
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskky, has arrived in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, according to reports in the Italian press.
The pope will make his final journey later today towards his burial tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica aboard a popemobile, Corriere reported. The vehicle was previously used on one of his trips overseas and has been especially adapted.
The newspaper said that the popemobile was deemed to be the “best solution” so that people could see his coffin as it passes at walking pace through the streets of central Rome.
It was only last Sunday when the late pontiff entered St Peter’s Square on a popemobile, delighting the crowds gathered for Easter Sunday mass before appearing on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. It was his final public appearance.
Route of the funeral procession – map
Pope Francis’s funeral will be held in St Peter’s Square in Rome at 10am local time. The outdoor service, which will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, is expected to be attended by dignitaries from 170 foreign delegations, as well as tens of thousands of ordinary people wanting to pay their respects.
Once the funeral mass has finished, Francis’s coffin will be taken, in procession, to Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican announced that people will be able to visit Francis’s tomb in the basilica from Sunday morning.
Below is a map of the route the funeral procession will take from Vatican City to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, where the late pope will be buried.
The Vatican’s YouTube channel will broadcast the funeral for viewers around the world.
Plus, here is where you can watch live coverage of the pope’s funeral in the UK, according to the PA news agency:
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On BBC One, newsreader Reeta Chakrabarti will present the broadcaster’s coverage, with a BBC News special beginning at 8.30am on Saturday and scheduled to continue until 12.30pm.
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Sky News presenter Anna Botting will host a live from Rome, with commentary from the former governor of Edinburgh Castle, Maj Gen Alastair Bruce of Crionaich. The broadcast begins at 7am and will last until 1pm, with Sky News Europe correspondent Adam Parsons live from St Peter’s Square, and specialist correspondent Lisa Holland broadcasting from the Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to the square.
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ITV said it will have a live stream on its online platform ITVX during the day.
The Vatican on Friday said 150,000 people have already paid their respects to Pope Francis, whose body lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica ahead of his funeral.
Between 11am (9am GMT) on Wednesday and midday on Friday, more than 150,000 people had filed past Francis’s body, a Vatican spokesperson said.
Helena Smith
The oldest child of Italians who migrated to Argentina, Pope Francis had, from the start, made the defence of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy, ensuring in July 2013 that his first pastoral trip outside Rome was to the remote island of Lampedusa.
The tiny rocky strip had emerged as a magnet for smuggling rings bringing people across the Mediterranean from north Africa.
In what would be described as a spur-of-the-moment decision, Francis elected to visit the island in the wake of migrant deaths in a fatal crossing. Residents who cried “viva il Papa” as he was whisked round in an open-topped Fiat voiced incredulity that the Catholic leader would choose to travel to the farthest reaches of Italy for an official tour dedicated solely to migrants and refugees.
But the pilgrimage had a goal. For Francis it amounted to the symbolic embrace of something much wider; the beginning of a pontificate that deliberately sought to minister to the marginalised and poor.
In Lampedusa – as in Lesbos three years later – the pope was as determined to express compassion for the living as for those who had died embarking on perilous journeys. “Who wept for these people who were aboard the boat?” he asked during an open-air mass after tossing a wreath into the sea in their memory. “For the young mothers who brought their babies? For these men who wanted to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten how to cry.”
Later he would confide that the tragedy in Lampedusa had “made me feel the duty to travel” in an effort to not only highlight the plight of refugees but “encourage the seeds of hope that are there”.
Serie A has postponed its three fixtures on Saturday because of Pope Francis’s funeral being held that day in Rome. Meanwhile, Italy’s Women’s Six Nations match against Wales is also expected to be rescheduled as the country prepares to pay its respects.
Earlier media reports in Italy had suggested that Serie A might make an exception for Inter’s clash with the visitors Roma to allow Simone Inzaghi’s side additional rest time before their midweek Champions League semi-final at Barcelona. However, the league has confirmed that the game at San Siro will now kick off at 2pm (all times BST) on Sunday.
Lazio were to play Parma in Rome on Saturday, which has been rescheduled for Monday at 7.45pm, while Como’s home game with Genoa has been moved to Sunday at 11.30am. Serie A postponed its Easter Monday matches after the pope’s death, with the games rescheduled for Wednesday, and on Tuesday Italy’s National Olympic Committee requested the suspension of all sporting events scheduled for Saturday.
Sam Jones
Pope Francis chose to break with the traditions surrounding papal funerals in April last year when he approved a set of simplified rules that allow a pope to be “laid out and buried like any son or daughter of the church”, without the use of an elevated bier topped with cushions. Or, as Francis himself put it:
With dignity, but not on cushions. In my opinion, the ritual was too ornate.
Papal funerals have traditionally involved three coffins, with the body of the pope placed in a coffin of cypress wood, which is then placed inside one of lead, which, in turn, is put inside a coffin of oak. Francis, however, stipulated that he wanted his body to be placed in a single, simple coffin made of wood and lined with zinc.
Timetable
Here is a timetable of Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday and the events to follow. All timings are in local time:
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10am: The funeral mass will begin and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals.
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As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.
The public can begin visiting Pope Francis’s tomb at the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore “as early as Sunday morning”, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni announced.
A conclave to choose a new pope normally takes place 15 to 20 days after the death of a pontiff, meaning it should not start before 6 May. The exact date will be decided by cardinals after Francis’ funeral.
Opening summary
The funeral of Pope Francis will be held today at St Peter’s Square, with a host of world leaders and royals including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and the Prince of Wales in attendance.
The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in the Vatican on Monday aged 88 after a stroke. He had been recovering from double pneumonia for which he was hospitalised for five weeks.
The funeral mass will begin at 10am local time and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, in what is expected to be a solemn ceremony.
In the run-up to Francis’s funeral, tens of thousands lined up to pay their respects to the pope as his body lay in state in an open wooden coffin in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday morning. By Friday morning, more than 130,000 people had filed past the coffin.
As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition.
He specified that he wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
The cost of his burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which Francis transferred to the basilica, he wrote in his will.
About 50,000 people attended the funeral of Francis’s immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict, which was also held in St Peter’s Square, in January 2023.
We will bring you updates from Pope Francis’s funeral on this live blog.
