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Mourners gather in Rome to honor Pope Francis
Pope Francis' funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. EDT) on Saturday at St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican announced Tuesday, following a meeting of the College of Cardinals at the Catholic Church's city-state headquarters in the heart of Rome. The casket carrying the pope, who died Monday morning after suffering a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88, will be brought in a procession Wednesday morning, accompanied by cardinals, to St. Peter's from his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he died.
The pope's body was laid to rest Monday in a casket in the chapel of his Santa Marta residence. The Vatican released the first photos and video on Tuesday of Francis in his casket, wearing a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary intertwined in his hands.
Pope Francis' body is seen in a coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence at the Vatican, where the late pontiff resided and then died at the age of 88, on April 21, 2025.
Handout/Vatican News service
The images showed cardinals and other church officials performing what the Vatican said was the formal Confirmation of the Pope's Death and praying over his body.
The interim administrator of the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-American who will play a major role in the funeral and subsequent conclave events in the coming weeks, will preside over the procession and the ritual transfer of the pope's body to St. Peter's.
The pontiff will lie in state ahead of his funeral at the basilica from Wednesday morning, the Vatican said. The funeral will be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.
Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com's foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., and London.
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