The mourning people visit Pope Francis as the Saint-Pierre Basilica

The mourning people pay tribute to Pope Francis, whose body was moved from his Vatican residence at the Saint-Pierre Basilica before his funeral on Saturday.

The Pope’s open coffin was transported Wednesday morning to a solemn procession via Saint-Pierre square where up to 20,000 pilgrims gathered, said the Vatican media.

While the coffin crossed the square, Bells got into and the crowds broke out – a traditional sign of Italian respect.

The Pope died on Monday at the age of 88 after a stroke and a battle with double pneumonia, which led him to spend five weeks in hospital earlier this year. The first Latin American chief of the Catholic Church, he held the role for 12 years.

Wednesday, the cardinals in a red dress and the priests dressed in white traveled the coffin of the pope of his personal residence at the house of Casa Santa Marta at the Saint-Pierre basilica. The procession lasted just under 40 minutes.

The Swiss guards, who are responsible for the security of the Pope, escorted his coffin to the altar of the church.

His body will remain in the state in the church until Friday evening. Public visualization started at 11:00 am local time (10:00 am BST) on Wednesday.

Shortly after the start of the event, the queue was already eight hours, the Italian media reported. In the middle of the afternoon, tens of thousands of people bordered the square.

The Vatican said on Wednesday afternoon that it could extend the church opening time beyond midnight due to the number of people wishing to pay tribute.

The church was to end at midnight, local time, Wednesday and Thursday and at 7:00 p.m. Friday, before the coffin was sealed.

Luis and Macarena, from Mexico, had come to Rome for their honeymoon and hoped to see the Pope, who gives a special blessing to the bride and groom. Luis told the BBC that the last place of rest of the Pope would allow them to feel a connection.

“Pope Francis is a saint and he will bless us from heaven,” said Luis.

Mary Ellen, an American who lives in Italy, said that she had come to the Vatican on a night train to “say goodbye”.

“I love Papa Francesco,” she said. “Because he is humble, kind, he loves immigrants. I know that he has set up a lot of difficult things in the Vatican. He fought against the power and power of the Vatican to be a real Christian, true Catholic.”

She said that when she passes the coffin, she will pray and ask Pope Francis of help with her own work with immigrants.

Inside St Peter’s, under the watchful marble eye of popes and saints, a constant flow of people was heading for the coffin of the Pope to pay tribute.

Some kneeling while others prayed and crossed before continuing slowly.

Many lingered to admire the amazing beauty of the basilica. The atmosphere was calm and solemn despite the thousands of people present.

Two women who waited for five hours to see the Pope said they had arrived at the basilica queue at 9:00 am.

One of them told the BBC that it was important for her to say goodbye to the pontiff.

“All these years, I followed everything he did and it was as if I was traveling all over the world with him, even if I was just at home. He liked going everywhere and prioritizing the poor,” she said.

Asked how it was to see him in her coffin, she replied: “It’s like the man we saw on television”.

Fredrik, who comes from Ghana but came from Poland, said that the Pope had “done his best” and “we have to continue the good works”.

Eva Asensio, a Mexican on vacation in Italy, said that she felt an affinity for the Argentinian Pope.

“We have seen him as a good pope-someone who supported everyone, no matter your sexual orientation, no matter where you come from. He united us,” she said with tears in his eyes.

Margaux, who is French and lives in Rome, said that he was “powerful to experience this”.

For her, Pope Francis meant “hope”, and his more progressive social opinions were “very important,” she said.

“I hope the next pope will follow his way,” she said.

Dignitaries around the world, including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Prince William, will attend the funeral on Saturday.

Pope Francis left clear instructions that he wanted a smaller ceremony in accordance with his simpler tastes as a pontiff. He had organized a benefactor to pay all this.

Unlike the vast majority of his predecessors, he will not be buried in St Peter’s, but in a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the center of Rome, under a tombstone inscribed only with his name.

Before being moved to St Peter’s, Pope Francis was lying in a coffin open in the chapel of his house, flanked by Swiss guards and cardinals in prayer.

His last public appearance took place on Easter Sunday, where from a wheelchair, he presented brief remarks to the masses gathered on Place St Peter’s. He then praised the worshipers and blessed babies when he was driven in a car through the crowd.

Its papal apartments were sealed with wax – marking the start of the period known as the vacant sede – or empty seat – which continues until a new head of the church is elected.

Additional report by Jorge Perez