Pope Francis’ lying-in-state draws pilgrims and world leaders.

Thousands of people gathered to pay their respects to the head of the Catholic Church worldwide as Pope Francis’s open coffin was moved to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday for three days of lying in state.

Along with the Vatican’s Swiss Guards and red-robed cardinals, the wooden coffin was brought in procession past crowded throngs in St. Peter’s Square while bells from the basilica sounded out.

As the procession passed the Santa Marta house, where the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff passed away Monday following a stroke, pilgrims and visitors took pictures, with some even cheering.

Francis’s body will now lie in state at the basilica until Saturday’s burial, having previously been kept in the chapel of the Santa Marta, where he resided during his 12-year pontificate.

One of the people who came early to get a look at a man who she described as “a family member” was Anna Montoya, 33, from Mexico.

“I had to come. She told AFP, “I feel like I knew him.” He was a decent man. He stood for what Jesus intended for us to learn and what the church should be.

Francis’s casket was positioned in front of St. Peter’s Altar of the Confession, where Michelangelo’s renowned dome is visible from Bernini’s bronze baldacchino. In contrast to his predecessors’ higher, more elaborate platforms, it was set on a modest bier.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are anticipated to attend the funeral, along with world leaders like as US President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prince William of Britain.

The casket will next be brought to Francis’s favorite church, the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where it will be buried and simply engraved with the words Franciscus.

“Sorely missed”

Italy is planning a large security operation for the funeral, and because Friday is a public holiday, the weekend is already expected to be hectic.

Tens of thousands of participants and 150 to 170 international delegations are anticipated, according to Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.

Due to the sweltering heat, personnel has been distributing water bottles, increasing security checks, and erecting barriers both inside and outside the basilica to manage crowds.

Rome instructor Pasquale Apolito, 43, stated that he wanted to meet the pope if he could before departing the city later that day.

“I wanted to be here today, but I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed to view the body. Something inside of me told me to come this morning,” he remarked.

“He was a guide for his capacity to listen, to welcome. He will be sorely missed.”

Italy has declared five days of national mourning — longer than the three days observed for Polish pope John Paul II in 2005, but less than the week declared for Francis by his native Argentina.

– Cardinals meeting –

After the funeral, all eyes will turn to the process to choose Francis’s successor as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Cardinals around the world have already been sent letters from the Holy See instructing them to return to Rome to select a new pope.

Only those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the conclave, which should begin no less than 15 days and no more than 20 days after the death of the pope.

About 60 cardinals of all ages already in Rome met on Tuesday to choose the funeral date, in a so-called “general congregation”.

A second meeting is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, led by the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is charged with running the day-to-day operations of the Holy See before a successor to Francis is chosen.

Francis’s death came less than a month after he was discharged from the hospital, where he spent five weeks battling pneumonia in both lungs.

Despite doctors calling for two months of rest, Francis continued to make appearances in public during his convalescence, where he appeared short of breath and without energy.

On Easter Sunday, the day before his death, he circled St Peter’s Square in his “popemobile” following mass and his traditional address to greet the crowds, stopping to kiss babies along the way.

He died the next morning at 7:35 am after suffering a stroke, a coma and heart failure, according to his death certificate.

Sister Maria Guadeloupe Hernandez Olivo, from Mexico, said it was “very hard, very sad” to hear news of his death.

“I did not expect it,” she told AFP in St Peter’s Square. “I believe he’s in a better place, no longer suffering, but I do feel this emptiness for our pastor.