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Pope Francis’ coffin has begun its procession from the Vatican to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, a church in Rome.
The basilica is about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away from the Vatican. Officials said the procession will proceed at walking pace, allowing the thousands of mourners packing Rome’s streets to get a final glimpse of the coffin.
The procession will take the pope’s body past various historical landmarks, including the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, before reaching Francis’ final resting place.
The final stretch of the route will travel down a wide leafy street leading to the basilica, which lies outside of the Vatican walls, on the other side of Rome’s River Tiber.
The arrival and entry to the basilica is the last time the public will see the coffin of Pope Francis. Although the burial will not be broadcast live, a rosary will be held outside the basilica, which will be open to visitors from Sunday morning.
More than 250,000 people gathered for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, Vatican authorities said.
The funeral lasted about 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The funeral of Pope Francis has concluded. The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica have tolled, bringing the service to an end after 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Pope Francis’ coffin will now be transported across the River Tiber to Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where bells are also now ringing ahead of the arrival of the pontiff’s body.
The service has been concluding with the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Magnificat.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,” the choir chanted.
Pope Francis’ coffin has been carried through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica for a final time. The bells tolled slowly to mark the end of mass as the coffin approached the main altar of the basilica.
The pallbearers have lifted Pope Francis’ coffin and are taking it back into St. Peter’s Basilica.
The crowd – mostly hushed for the two-hour service – have burst into applause.
The cardinals are getting up from their seats in St. Peter’s Square and proceeding back into the basilica, while the pallbearers make their way forward to lift the coffin.
Among the international crowds at Pope Francis’ funeral, feelings of calm reflection and kindness were palpable.
Crowds on the edge of St. Peter’s Square watched the funeral mostly in silence, breaking it only to sing and follow along with prayers, and to applaud when they saw Francis’ coffin.
People could barely move, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, but moved respectfully when many among the crowd wanted to kneel in prayer.
The mood then suddenly shifted from somber and reflective to uplifted, as people turned to one another to offer handshakes of peace, and priests came to the front of security barriers to offer communion.
People moved out of the way to let others pass for communion, but not everyone was able to reach the front of the line.
Standing in Piazza Pio XII, I could hear at least five different languages spoken and saw people carrying the flags of Argentina, Lebanon, Venezuela and Bosnia and Herzegovina — a testament to Pope Francis’ global outreach.
Despite the heat, both children and the elderly made it to the square. Worshipers helped volunteers pass out water to those in the back of the crowd.
Photos have just been released of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump meeting in St. Peter’s Basilica earlier Saturday.
The photos – published by Ukraine’s presidency – show the pair sitting face to face in an empty area of the basilica. The White House described their talks as “productive.”
Another image shows the leaders accompanied by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Much of the music at the funeral is being sung in plainchant – simple lines of music chanted by priests and the choir.
Plainchant, or plainsong, is a method of expressing the liturgy in music that evolved in the early centuries of Christianity. It’s also known as Gregorian chant, after Pope Gregory I, who is credited (mistakenly) with its creation.
The music is sung by the prestigious Sistine Chapel Choir, the 20 men and 30 boys who make up the pope’s personal ensemble. Some sections of the mass are set to more complex polyphony, but the Vatican has not identified any of the composers.
It’s a contrast to the more elaborate settings of hymns and anthems used in the Anglican church – for example at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK.
After the distribution of communion – a process that took around 10 minutes, there was a period of reflection before the final part of the service – the commendation of the pope’s soul to heaven.
“Let us commend to God’s tender mercy the soul of Pope Francis, Bishop of the Catholic Church, who confirmed his brothers and sisters in the faith of the resurrection,” said Cardinal Re, in Latin.
The cardinals will then invoke the names of dozens of the Catholic saints, asking them to pray for Pope Francis.
Next, a funeral prayer from the Byzantine Liturgy will be recited in Greek, and representatives come forward from the Eastern Catholic Churches – the 23 autonomous churches that are separate from the main Roman Catholic Church but share the pope as leader and are in full communion with Rome.
Priests and other celebrants are distributing Holy Communion – the bread and wine – among the cardinals. Catholics believe that the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ when consecrated.
After the cardinals, the priests will begin to distribute Holy Communion among the crowd as widely as possible.
During communion, the choir has been singing a communion antiphon in Latin – the words of psalm 129: “Out of the depths I cry to you O Lord; Lord year my voice!”
In the crowd, CNN saw how many mourners knelt behind the security barriers to receive communion, as scores of priests made their rounds through St. Peter’s Square.
Cardinal Re has consecrated the bread and wine, and the choir has chanted the Lord’s Prayer.
The congregation – of cardinals, world leaders and members of the public – have just made the Sign of Peace, a rite where individuals express peace, communion and charity with each other, turning to those around them to shake hands, saying: “Peace be with you.”
US President Donald Trump just shook hands with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump held talks before Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, the first time the two men have met face-to-face since their explosive encounter in the Oval Office.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said the two “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.”
“More details about the meeting will follow.”
The talks come at a crucial time for the war in Ukraine – the US has been threatening to abandon its efforts to broker peace and Trump blasted Zelensky this week for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian control of Crimea.
But after fresh talks between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s Ukraine envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”
This post has been updated to add comment from the White House.
The cardinals are preparing for the central and most solemn part of this morning’s service: the eucharist.
Cardinal Re has just censed the altar, and is beginning the Eucharistic Prayer – in which the celebrant offers the faithful to the service of God and presides over the consecration of the bread and wine.
The choir will soon sing the Sanctus, and once the Eucharistic Prayer is complete, everyone chants the Lord’s Prayer together.
While the crowd inside St. Peter’s Square isn’t completely packed, it’s not for lack of turnout.
Authorities have limited the number of people allowed into the square, with many mourners gathered behind barriers at the edges.
A wide security corridor has also been established on the border of the Vatican and Piazza Pio XII to allow for authorities to move through.
Cardinal Re has delivered the Prayer of the Faithful, also called the Universal Prayer.
What followed marked a departure from previous papal funerals. Cardinals delivered a short prayer in six languages: Italian, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, German – and Mandarin.
It was the first time that Mandarin had been included in a papal funeral.
“For us gathered here, that having celebrated the sacred mysteries, we may one day be called by Christ to enter his glorious kingdom,” read Cardinal Agostino Liu Bo.
During his papacy, Francis voiced his desire to visit China, and the Vatican has in recent years attempted to smooth its relationship with Beijing.
Unable to visit China, Francis instead visited Mongolia in 2023, where he met Chinese Catholics and bishops. In another overture, Pope Francis in 2022 appointed Giorgio Marengo as the first Mongolian cardinal.
Cardinal Marengo will be among those who will appoint Francis’ successor in the conclave, which will begin in the days after today’s funeral.
Francis was a “pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said as the homily continued.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization,” Re said.
“His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant,” the cardinal continued, noting that Francis’ first journey as pope was to Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean that has long been a first port of call for people crossing from north Africa.
“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and inviting honest negotiation to find possible solutions. War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” Re added.
“Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying ‘do not forget to pray for me.’ Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope,” he concluded.
At this moment, Vatican authorities say that approximately 200,000 people have gathered for the funeral of Pope Francis.
About 50,000 people came to Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral in 2023, while around 300,000 attended Pope John Paul II’s in 2005.
Pope Francis chose to follow a “path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life,” Cardinal Re said in the homily at the late pontiff’s funeral.
“The final image we have of him, which will remain etched in our memory, is that of last Sunday, Easter Sunday, when Pope Francis, despite his serious health problems, wanted to give us his blessing from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica,” Re said.
At his last appearance on the day before his death, Francis gave the traditional Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in front of delighted crowds.
“He then came down to this square to greet the large crowd gathered for the Easter Mass while riding in the open-top Popemobile,” Re continued.
“With our prayers, we now entrust the soul of our beloved Pontiff to God, that he may grant him eternal happiness in the bright and glorious gaze of his immense love.”
Cardinal Giovanni Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, has begun to deliver the homily.
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