A ceremony will be held at 20.00 on Friday in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the closing of Pope Francis’s coffin, the Vatican said.
It said Kevin Joseph Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite.
Around 2,000 journalists have obtained accreditation with the Vatican over the last few days to cover the funeral of Pope Francis and the subsequent conclave, sources said.
This is on top of the approximately 500 reporters who regularly cover the Vatican for media organs around the world.
The route that Pope Francis’ coffin will take on Saturday, at the end of the funeral, to reach Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major) where he will be buried will be “carefully monitored”, sources said.
The route that the funeral procession will take is about six kilometers.
More than one itinerary is being studied, with the shortest includes passing through Corso Vittorio, Piazza Venezia, Via Nazionale and then reaching the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The Vatican said Wednesday that Pope Francis’s remains will be laid to rest in Rome’s Saint Mary Major on Saturday after his funeral in Saint Peter’s Square.
The late pontiff would always go to Saint Mary Major to pray before and after every apostolic journey he went on and he asked to buried there, not in St Peter’s like most other popes, in his testament.
“I ask that my tomb be prepared in the burial niche in the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the Basilica,” the testament read.
“The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus”.
The Vatican said Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite for the interment of the coffin.
