Security is tight at St. Peter’s Square and across Rome.
Apr 26, 2025
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Latest Updates: Mourners Gather for Pope Francis’ Funeral
The pontiff will be laid to rest after a Mass in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The first Jesuit and first Latin American pope, he championed a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church.
Roman Catholics were gathering on Saturday to give Pope Francis a last farewell at his funeral in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Tens of thousands of faithful were expected to attend the open-air Mass — from royalty and heads of state to ordinary people far from the spotlight, for whom Francis, who sought to make the church more inclusive, had a special affection.
Francis, who died on Monday at 88, last year approved guidelines to make his funeral a less grand affair than those of his predecessors. The centuries-old rites, however, will still involve Catholic pageantry, an audience of world leaders, scores of red-robed cardinals, Gregorian chants and large crowds filling the square outside St. Peter’s Basilica.
More than 150 foreign delegations are expected, with attendees including President Trump, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; and President Javier Milei of Argentina, where Francis was born. A group of refugees and homeless people, two groups for whom Francis advocated throughout his 12-year papacy, also planned to attend, according to the charity St. Egidio.
The funeral Mass is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern). The New York Times will carry live video of the ceremony.
Here is what else to know:
Simplified ceremony: The changes Francis introduced for a papal funeral last year reflect his view of the pope as a humble pastor rather than a powerful figure, although the rites will still be on a grand scale.
Francis’ burial: After the Mass, a vehicle will transport Francis’ unassuming wood coffin to St. Mary Major, a papal basilica in Rome that the pope loved. A group of “poor and needy” people will greet his body at the steps, the Vatican said. Then, he will be buried during a private ceremony in a tomb with a frieze of a cross and the one-word inscription “Franciscus.”
Choosing a successor: After the burial, the focus will turn in earnest to selecting the next pope, which takes place through an election among the College of Cardinals. Speculation has pointed to several names as possible successors.
Politics as backdrop: The solemn ceremony will unfold against a backdrop of geopolitical turmoil and war. Some of those expected to attend have been directly at odds with each other. Other attendees criticized Francis during his papacy. Mr. Milei once dismissed Francis, the first pope from Latin America, as a “filthy leftist.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is in Rome for the funeral, a spokesman, Serhiy Nikiforov, said.
Security officers at the entrance to St. Peter’s Square on Thursday.James Hill for The New York Times
There were thousands of police officers on the streets of Rome on Saturday morning as the Italian authorities ramped up security for Pope Francis’ funeral, which at least 100,000 people are expected to attend, Italian officials said.
The nearly 170 government delegations expected, including more that 10 monarchs and some 50 heads of state, have added to the security restrictions. Hundreds of officers have been deployed to follow motorcades as they travel to and from St. Peter’s Basilica.
Most streets leading to the Vatican were closed to regular traffic, and more than a dozen bus lines were diverted. Helicopters could be heard flying near St. Peter’s Square.
Some 3,000 volunteers would help those attending the funeral and support law enforcement agents, a spokesman for Italy’s Civil Protection Department said. Hundreds of emergency health workers would be on hand to provide medical assistance.
The area is expected to be packed. Huge screens were set up at various points leading to the square to allow those farther away to follow the funeral.
As is the case when there are large gatherings at St. Peter’s, like the Sunday Angelus prayer, entering the square requires passing through several security checks, including X-ray machines and metal detectors.
Italian media reported that snipers would be placed on rooftops during the proceedings, and specialized police units would patrol the Tiber River. Police forces were also stationed along the route from St. Peter’s to the Papal Basilica of St. Marie Major, or the Santa Maria Maggiore, where the pope will be entombed after the funeral.
A large all-male section of priests and friars sits to the left of the altar in St. Peter’s Square. Some are dressed in their priestly white or black gowns. Others are in sleevless down jackets and baseball caps or bucket hats. One has wrapped himself in the flag of the pope’s native Argentina.
Eric Lee/The New York Times
The press corps that follows the Vatican has temporarily swelled by at least 2,700 journalists, according to the Vatican, and the news has been nonstop. The vending machine in the Vatican press office has been picked bare. Still available at 8 a.m. Saturday: a bag of crackers, a pack of gum and five chocolate bars.
Reporting from Vatican City
As they waited for the service to start, some of the mourners who had spent the night outside napped on the seats they had secured. Nuns held rosaries and sandwiches wrapped in silver paper. Teenagers played cards as they lay on the ground. People held the flags of Bolivia, Poland and Switzerland.
Susana Vera/Reuters
Reporting from Vatican City
Some mourners said they ran to secure a spot. A nun from Egypt said she prayed that Pope Francis, who suffered from knee ailments, would relieve her legs from pain so she could make it to St. Peter’s Square. People from the Democratic Republic of the Congo wrapped themselves in colourful local fabrics with Francis’ image.
After the funeral, Pope Francis’ body will be transported from St. Peter’s Basilica to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried, in a converted “pope mobile,” the Vatican said. The vehicle was used on one of his trips to Asia.
Reporting from Rome
This is a jubilee year for the Roman Catholic Church, and pilgrims from around the world have converged on Rome’s holiest sites, including the basilicas of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran. This morning, these places are far quieter as mourners are expected to head across the city to St. Peter’s Square.
Reporting from Vatican City
On Friday night the pope’s casket was closed in a private ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica that was attended by clerics and some of the pope’s family members. A bishop laid a white cloth on the pope’s face before the coffin was closed with nails, according to photos shared by the Vatican.
Vatican MediaVatican Media
Reporting from Vatican City
While crowds have massed in the Vatican, the streets of Rome are empty early on Saturday morning with the city preparing to to bid farewell to its bishop, Pope Francis. Police cars line the streets, and police officers line for espressos. A few priests in long black robes walk toward St. Peter’s square.
Reporting from Vatican City
Thousands of people funneled into St Peter’s Square through an elaborate crowd control system as dawn broke. The crowd included students, schoolchildren and church groups.
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
Reporting from Vatican City
Dozens of high school students who had gotten up at 4 a.m. found space in the piazza and lay down on the cobblestones to nap as they waited for the funeral to begin. The students said they originally came to Rome from Cagliari, in Sardinia, for the church’s Jubilee of Teenagers but were taking the opportunity to witness a historic event. “The pope cared about young people,” said Maria Grazia Ladu, 21, who was accompanying them.
The funeral mass for Pope Francis will be held in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time.James Hill for The New York Times
Mourners will bid a final farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday during his funeral Mass, which is expected to draw international leaders as well as cardinals, archbishops and priests from around the world to the Vatican. The rites will be broadcast by news networks around the globe.
Until the funeral, his body, dressed in papal vestments, will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Here’s what to know.
Where can I watch the funeral?
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.
The New York Times will stream the funeral as part of its live coverage on Saturday, and many U.S. television networks, including NBC, CBS, CNN and ABC, are planning to broadcast it as well. International broadcasters, such as the BBC in Britain, will also cover the funeral.
The funeral will also air on the Vatican’s news channel on YouTube, which has been streaming much of the rites.
Where can I watch the funeral internationally?
In Canada, major networks such as CBC Television and CTV across the country are expected to carry the service. In the United Kingdom, news networks including Sky News and the BBC are also expected to broadcast the funeral.
In Brazil, there is Globo News and CNN Brasil. And in Spain, viewers should be able to catch the service on Televisión Española with its news channel 24 Horas.
On Saturday, a public funeral Mass will be held in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.
The funeral will be more modest than rites for past pontiffs: Pope Francis last year simplified the rules around papal funerals, with changes that include using only one wooden coffin instead of three.
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.
The churches of Rome will hold special Masses in memory of Francis for nine days after the funeral.
Who is expected to attend?
World leaders and Catholic worshipers from around the world will attend the funeral. Expected attendees include: President Trump, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, President Javier Milei of Argentina and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country.
World leaders are expected to travel to Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral.
Presidents, prime ministers and royalty are expected to attend Pope Francis’ funeral, which will be the most prominent gathering of world leaders since President Trump’s inauguration in January.
The funeral on Saturday will cap almost a week of mourning for Francis, whose advocacy for migrants, the poor, the marginalized and those suffering under war often put him directly at odds with some of the powerful people who will pay their respects to him at the service in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
Francis’ funeral will be Mr. Trump’s first foreign trip in his second term, and his first time seeing many of his global peers since he began to shake the world order with steep tariffs, erratic policy swings and dramatic deportations.
Mr. Milei’s office said on Tuesday that he would attend the funeral of Francis, a proud Argentine seen by many as a national hero. A far-right libertarian, Mr. Milei and the pope appeared to smooth over some issues last year.
Here are some other leaders who plan to attend:
United States
Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Jill Biden
Mr. Biden, the United States’ second Roman Catholic president, will attend along with the former first lady, a spokeswoman said. Mr. Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction to Pope Francis in January, praising him as “the People’s Pope.”
Britain
Keir Starmer, the prime minister, and Prince William, the heir to the throne
Prince William will attend on behalf of his father, King Charles III, Kensington Palace said in a statement on Tuesday. King Charles and Queen Camilla had met with Francis this month. Mr. Starmer, the head of the British government, described Francis’ leadership as “courageous” and noted his concern for “the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten” in a post on X.
Italy
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Ms. Meloni led tributes to Francis on Monday, praising him as “a great man and a great pastor.” She also visited him while he was in the hospital. “I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed even in moments of trial and suffering,” she said.
Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky
A top aide to Mr. Zelensky told a Ukrainian news agency that the president planned to attend the funeral, potentially setting up his first interaction with President Trump since their tense Oval Office meeting in March. “He knew how to give hope, ease suffering through prayer, and foster unity,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on X in tribute to Francis. “He prayed for peace in Ukraine and for Ukrainians.”
France
President Emmanuel Macron
Mr. Macron praised Francis for standing alongside “the most vulnerable and the most fragile,” and cut short a trip to the Indian Ocean region after the pope’s death.
Brazil
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country, is holding seven days of mourning for Francis. Mr. Lula remembered the pope for his smile and his faith in a brighter future in a post on X.
Poland
President Andrzej Duda
The president’s international affairs adviser confirmed that Mr. Duda and his wife would attend. “Throughout his pastoral ministry, he was guided by humility and simplicity,” Mr. Duda, who is Catholic and leads a deeply Catholic country, wrote in a tribute to Francis on X.
Other leaders
Austria: President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Christian Stocker
Belgium: King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and Prime Minister Bart De Wever
European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen
Estonia: President Alar Karis
Germany: President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Ireland: President Michael D. Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Latvia: President Edgars Rinkevics
Lithuania: President Gitanas Nauseda
Moldova: President Maia Sandu
Romania: Interim President Ilie Bolojan and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu
Slovakia: President Peter Pellegrini
Slovenia: President Natasa Pirc Musar
Spain: King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia
United Nations: Secretary General António Guterres
Diego Ribadeneira, Mark Landler and Tyler Pager contributed reporting.
Pope Francis became head of the Catholic church in 2013 after Pope Benedict XVI stepped down.Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times
Pope Francis’ life took him from a modest upbringing in Buenos Aires to lead the Roman Catholic Church as the first Jesuit pontiff and the first from Latin America.
Across his 12 years as pope, Francis consistently elevated the causes of migrants and the disenfranchised, and pushed the church to more forcefully confront its own history of scandal. His efforts to make the church more inclusive were welcomed by his supporters and many Catholics, but some conservatives pushed back as he veered from traditional teachings.
1936
A Deeply Religious Boy
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires. His parents were immigrants from Italy, and he was the eldest of five siblings. As a boy, he was intelligent, deeply religious and loved to dance the tango.
A young Jorge Mario Bergoglio in an undated photograph.Jesuit General Curia, via Getty Images
1952
Religious Calling
When he was 16, Jorge was rushing to meet friends but paused at the Basilica of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires, feeling an urge to go inside. In the sanctuary, it felt as though “someone grabbed me from inside,” he said, adding, “Right there I knew I had to be a priest.” He later joined a seminary.
1969
Ordination
After 13 years of study, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained as a priest.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, standing second from left, with his family.API/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images
1973
A Jesuit Leader
Father Bergoglio became the head of the Jesuits, an order of priests, in Argentina. At the time, the country was in the throes of a “dirty war,” when the ruling military junta tortured, killed or “disappeared” as many as 30,000 people. Father Bergoglio later faced accusations that he had done little to protect two priests with antigovernment views who were kidnapped and tortured by the regime. He has denied the claims, saying he protected priests and others by pressing military officials behind the scenes.
1979
Exile
Father Bergoglio’s tenure as head of the Jesuits ended in controversy, with critics accusing him of having an autocratic management style. Church authorities sent him into de facto exile in Frankfurt, Germany, and then to Córdoba, Argentina.
1992
A Surprise Turn to Bishop
Father Bergoglio’s exile was interrupted when he was unexpectedly named an auxiliary bishop of the Buenos Aires diocese. He became archbishop six years later, and focused on outreach to the poor. He was elevated to cardinal in 2001.
Cardinal Bergoglio greeting parishioners in Buenos Aires.Claudia Conteris/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
2013
The First Latin American Pope
Francis was elected pontiff after Pope Benedict XVI resigned, citing health concerns. Francis tried to move the church away from divisive issues such as abortion and homosexuality, instead focusing on climate change, poverty and migration. His first papal trip was to Lampedusa, an Italian island that had become a beacon for asylum seekers and migrants.
Pope Francis waving to the crowds in front of St. Peter’s Basilica minutes after his election in 2013.Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press
2014
Addressing Sex Abuse
Francis established a commission to address the church’s clerical sexual-abuse scandals. It included victims of abuse and sought to hold bishops accountable, but the effort eventually fell apart.
2014
U.S.-Cuba Agreement
The United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations for the first time in decades. Francis was credited with helping bridge the divide between President Barack Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba, leading to the historic breakthrough.
Pope Francis visiting Cuba in 2015 after he helped the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic relations.Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
2015
A Call to Action on the Environment
Francis released “Laudato Si,” the first papal encyclical focused solely on the environment. It called for protecting the environment and denounced the excesses of global capitalism in exploiting the poor.
2015
Tending the U.S. Flock
During a six-day trip to the United States, Francis became the first pope to address Congress.
Pope Francis addressing Congress in 2015, becoming the first pontiff to do so.Zach Gibson/The New York Times
2016
Spat With Trump
Francis repeatedly sought to stand up to nationalism. During the U.S. presidential election, he suggested that Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate, was “not Christian” because of his preference for building walls rather than bridges. Mr. Trump responded: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian.”
2017
Trip to Egypt
Francis sought closer relations with other religions, especially in places where Catholics were at risk of persecution. At a conference in Cairo, he denounced “demagogic forms of populism” and violence masquerading as piety.
Pope Francis meeting Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Cairo as part of an effort to improve relations with other religious leaders.Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press
2018
A Deal With China
Francis reached a provisional agreement with the Chinese government to end a decades-long power struggle over the right to appoint bishops in the country. The deal gave the church greater access to China, but also legitimized seven bishops appointed by Beijing, which critics said set a dangerous precedent.
2019
A Push to Protect Minors
Francis issued the church’s most comprehensive response in decades to the sexual abuse crisis. It obligated church officials worldwide to report cases of sexual abuse, and efforts to cover them up, to their superiors. But it did not require officials to report abuse to the police, an omission that enraged victims.
Sex abuse survivors marching in Rome as Pope Francis hosted a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, in 2019.Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
2019
The Amazon Summit
A meeting of bishops from the Amazon region recommended that Francis allow the ordination of married men as priests in remote areas of South America. He signaled an openness to the idea, but ultimately set aside the proposal.
2020
A Pandemic Blessing
On Good Friday, from a dark, deserted St. Peter’s Square, Francis delivered a blessing and called for solidarity around the world to confront the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, Italy was in lockdown amid a deadly wave of the virus.
Pope Francis celebrating Good Friday during the pandemic in a near-empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in 2020.Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times
2022
An Apology to Indigenous People
During a visit to Canada, Francis begged for forgiveness from the country’s Indigenous people for the “evil” inflicted upon them by Christians. He also apologized for the church’s role in running residential schools where Indigenous children were abused and many died.
Pope Francis at a meeting with Indigenous leaders over the church’s role in running boarding schools where children were abused.Ian Willms for The New York Times
2023
An Effort to Include Women
Francis for the first time held a meeting of world bishops that included women and lay people as voting members. The synod, as the meeting is known, broached some of the most sensitive topics in the church, including the role of women, celibacy and the marital status of priests, but it didn’t change those policies. After the meeting, Francis allowed priests to bless gay couples.
2025
Death and Legacy
Francis died on Monday at 7:35 a.m., less than a day after blessing the faithful who had gathered for an Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square. He appeared on a balcony on Sunday, looking frail, and after blessing the crowd, he deferred to a Vatican aide to address the crowd on his behalf.
Francis had wrestled serious health issues in the preceding months, including a severe respiratory infection that had sent him to the hospital for weeks.
He leaves a legacy of inclusion and activism, having often spoken in support of migrants, the marginalized and the environment.
