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The coffin has now entered St Peter’s Basilica.
Members of the clergy walk in a procession inside St Peter’s basilica with incense as the Pope’s coffin is transported from the chapel of Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica, following the Pope’s death. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
Pallbearers, next to Swiss Guards, carry the coffin of the late Pope Francis as it is transported from the chapel of Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica. Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
The crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square break into applause, as the coffin with Pope Francis’s body is carried through the square on its way into the Basilica.
Pope Francis’ body is carried in a coffin into Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on the day of its translation. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Pontifical Swiss guards stand outside the St. Peter’s Basilica, in St. Peter’s Square, where the body of Pope Francis will lie in state at for three days. Photograph: Andreea Alexandru/AP
This photograph shows a view of the Campanone bell ringing at St Peter’s basilica prior to the arrival of the coffin of the late Pope. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
Attendees watch a screen next to a statue at St Peter’s Square displaying video footage of the pope’s coffin, prior to the arrival of the coffin of the late Pope. Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
People gather in St. Peter’s Square as they await the arrival of the body of Pope Francis. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP
The procession has just entered St Peter’s Square.
The coffin makes it way through the Vatican towards St Peter’s Basilica, accompanied by the choir’s singing, starting with Psalm 22.
You can follow the ceremony live watching the stream at the top of the blog.
After a brief ceremony inside the Santa Maria chapel, the coffin is now being moved to St Peter’s Basilica, as the bells toll for Pope Francis.
Camerlengo Kevin Farrell leads the prayer:
Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, we now accompany the mortal remains of our Pope Francis to the Vatican Basilica, where he often exercised his ministry as Bishop of the Church which is in Rome and as Pastor of the universal Church.
As we now leave this home, let us thank the Lord for the countless gifts that he bestowed on the Christian people through his servant, Pope Francis.
Let us ask him, in his mercy and kindness, to grant the late Pope an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven, and to comfort with celestial hope the papal family, the Church in Rome and the faithful throughout the world.
Look kindly, Lord, on the life and works of your servant, our Pope Francis. Welcome him into the dwelling of perpetual light and peace and grant that your faithful people may follow fervently in his footsteps, bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
If you want to closely follow the order of the ceremony, here are all the texts of prayers.
The ceremony of “translation”, moving the body from the Santa Maria chapel to St Peter’s Basilica, is starting now and is led by camerlengo, or chamberlain, Kevin Farrell.
It is Farrell who announced the death of Pope Francis on Monday.
In this image released by Vatican media on Monday, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell announces the death of Pope Francis at the Vatican. Photograph: Vatican Media/AP
He rose through the ecclesiastical ranks to be made camerlengo by Pope Francis, whose death has thrust him into the global spotlight.
Or, as the British tabloid Metro put it: “Interim pope is a bloke called Kevin from Dublin.”
Here is his profile:
Austen Ivereigh, biographer of Pope Francis, has been speaking to BBC News in the last few minutes noting that “what’s remarkable about what’s happening in these days is that we have the funeral of the pope in Easter Week.”
A prelate holds a picture of Pope Francis as he enters the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/Reuters
“This is incredibly unusual. I don’t know whether it’s ever happened before, because Easter week is all about celebrating the resurrection, and it’s also about the birth in the readings of the church … so there’s something actually very, very powerful and very fitting about burying, grieving, saying goodbye to the pope in this week,” he said.
Ivereigh, who saw Pope Francis’s body in the Santa Maria chapel last night, said it was “hard, but it was good to accept that he is gone, and that is what really these ceremonies, what we are going through these days are about: accepting that a death has happened and coming to terms with it.”
“For Catholics, this is an important part of … allowing ourselves to grieve, but also to believe that this is not the end,” he said.
Vatican Swiss Guards stand in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican before the body of Pope Francis will be carried inside where he will lie in state for three days. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP
People gather in St. Peter’s Square as they await the arrival of the body of Pope Francis, who will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica for three days. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP
A general view of the inside of Saint Peter’s Basilica on the day of the translation of Pope Francis’ coffin, which will be transported inside the Basilica. Photograph: Claudia Greco/Reuters
In the meantime, first details are emerging as to the scale of the logistics operation required for this Saturday’s funeral, with over 170 foreign delegations and around 200,000 faithful expected to come to the Vatican.
The timing of the funeral coincides with the Italian bank holiday, the Liberation Day, which falls on Friday and will see muted celebrations this year due to the national mourning.
Corriere della Serra is reporting that some of the most advanced defence and security mechanisms will be used to protect the faithful on Sunday, with elaborate jamming technologies, a no-fly zone over the city with enhanced air force monitoring in place, and heightened anti-terrorism alert measures.
The police is also working out how to provide necessary support to all foreign delegations, and on top of that preparing for a hypothetical scenario in which an Italian cardinal gets picked as the new pope, which they expect would prompt more Italian faithful to descend on Rome.
People queue on the day of the translation of Pope Francis’ coffin, which will be transported inside the Saint Peter’s Basilica. Photograph: Kevin Coombs/Reuters
Pope Francis’ coffin to be transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica to lie in state ahead of funeral. Photograph: Riccardo Antimiani/EPA
People gather in St. Peter’s Square as they await the arrival of the body of Pope Francis, who will lie in state at St. Peter¥s Basilica. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP
Jakub Krupa
Pope Francis’s body will be moved to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning where it will lie in state for three days to allow Catholic faithful to pay their final respects ahead of a funeral expected to bring a host of world leaders including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump.
Priests arrive at St. Peter’s Basilica on the day of the translation of Pope Francis’ coffin, which will be transported inside the Basilica. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters
The ceremony is scheduled to start 9am Rome (8am BST), and will see Francis’s body leave the Santa Maria residence where he lived and move in a procession into St Peter’s Basilica, entering through the main entrance.
The body will lie in state until Friday 7pm local time, when the public mourning will end in preparation for the funeral on Saturday morning.
I will follow the ceremony and the latest reports from the Vatican and elsewhere for you.
It’s Wednesday, 23 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
