Vatican City (AP) – Of some of the most powerful leaders in the world to the margins of the company to which Pope Francis has always been owned, hundreds of thousands of people were expected in the Vatican on Saturday for funeral rites for the deceased pontiff.
President Donald Trump and sixty other heads of state and reign sovereigns have announced their intention to go to Rome around the world. The Vatican said that “a group of the poor and the needy” would be on the steps of the Saint-Marie-Major basilica to pay tribute to the first Jesuit pope and the first Latin American pope before his burial in the church.
The Holy See press office added that the poor had a special place in Francis’ heart. He had chosen for its papacy the name of the medieval Italian saint who gave up the richness of his family when he joined the church.
Already, the long lines of the faithful paid tribute to Francis, who died Monday at 88 years old, during the three days when his body was lying in a simple wooden coffin inside the Saint-Pierre basilica.
From the start of its papacy in 2013, Francis conquered many things in the world, Catholic or not, with his plea for migrants and the environment. His heritage was more mixed on the subjects of the sexual abuse of the clergy and the LGBTQ +awareness, which made waves to increase inclusion, but some criticized so as not to go far enough.
A nun smiles as she waits ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral in Saint-Pierre Place at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Emilio Morenatti) Faithful, a piece of sign with the Ukrainian flag and the reading of Francis, pray for us, arrives for the funeral of Pope Francis on Place Saint-Pierre at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Alessandra Tarantino) The nuns and other pilgrims are looking for their seats on Saint-Pierre square before the funeral of Pope Francis, in the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Markus Schreiber) The police speak on Saint-Pierre square before the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Andreea Alexandru) A faithful wearing a flag of Argentina arrives for the funeral of Pope Francis on Place Saint-Pierre at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Gregorio Borgia) The nuns and the pilgrims head towards Saint-Pierre Place before the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (APTO / Andreea Alexandru) The faithful and Swiss guards are in the background by the Saint-Pierre basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis on Place Saint-Pierre at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Alessandra Tarantino) Faithful rest on the ground before the funeral of Pope Francis on Saint-Pierre square at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Andrew Medichini) A man yawns while people arrive on Saint-Pierre square before the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Andreea Alexandru) A nun is waiting on Saint-Pierre square while people arrive before the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saturday April 26, 2025. (AP photo / Andreea Alexandru)
