23 April,2025 08:22 AM IST | Vatican City | Agencies
Pope Francis in his open coffin in The Vatican. PIC/AFP
The body of the late Pope Francis will be transferred to St Peter's Basilica today to lie in state until his funeral on Saturday morning, the Vatican announced. The Holy See said that the funeral Mass will take place at 10.00 am in St Peter's Square.
The dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, will lead the service, after which Cardinal Re will deliver a concluding prayer in which the Pope will be formally entrusted to God.
As per his wishes, Pope Francis will be laid to rest in Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major and will become the first Pope in more than a century not to be buried in the Vatican, in the crypt of St Peter's Basilica.
He also requested for a simple wooden casket, unlike other Popes who were buried in the traditional three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.
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