As the public viewing of Pope Francis’s body began, mourners were interrupted by visitors who turned the occasion into a ghoulish photo-op. Some Instagrammers even smiled as they posed in front of the open casket. “People were being asked to put their selfie sticks away when they got to the front,” UK tourist Martin Gilsenan told the Mirror.
“There were also many people looking around and getting upset with those on the phones,” he said, with images showing others crowding around taking pics, despite being told not to..
“I found the mobile phones very distasteful,” added Gilsenan’s wife, Catherine. “I was very surprised there were photos.”
The casket was not put on an elevated bier as it was his request to not make it difficult for the people to pay their last respect to him.
Until the funeral on Saturday, his body, dressed in papal vestments, will lie in state at St Peter’s Basilica.
The funeral will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern) in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced. A public funeral Mass will be held in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.
The funeral will be more modest than rites for past pontiffs: Francis last year simplified the rules around papal funerals, with changes that include using only one wooden coffin instead of three.
After the Mass, Francis’ body will be interred in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where seven other popes are buried.
Francis wrote in his will that he wanted his “last earthly journey to end at this very ancient Marian shrine.” He requested a simple, undecorated tomb with only the inscription “Franciscus,” the Vatican said.
World leaders and Catholic worshippers from around the world will attend the funeral. Expected attendees include: President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, President Javier Milei of Argentina and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country.
