After three days of lying in state, the Pope’s coffin will be sealed this evening ahead of his funeral tomorrow, as world leaders start arriving in Rome to pay their respects.
Friday 25 April 2025 17:20, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Our Europe correspondent Adam Parsons is standing near the end of the queue outside St Peter’s Basilica.
It’s the final hour for mourners to see the Pope lying in state, with entrance to the queue now closed.
He points to the end of the queue and says “these are the last people who will see the Pope before the doors are closed”.
“People are still filing in as they have been for three days now, but in just under one hour’s time, those doors will be closed.”
Take a look at his report below.
Donald Trump is among a host of world leaders travelling to Rome ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral tomorrow.
We’ve seen the US president board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland this afternoon, after he took the opportunity to speak to the media and give a tribute to the pontiff.
He told reporters that Pope Francis was a “good man” and “he loved the world” as well as saying he was a “fantastic kind of a guy”.
Trump added that the day will be “very interesting” and said he will leave Rome tomorrow night.
As we’ve been reporting, the Vatican has said at least 150,000 people have been to pay their respects to Pope Francis since Wednesday.
The pontiff’s body has been lying in state inside St Peter’s Basilica, where his coffin will be sealed this evening.
Take a look at the pictures below as tens of thousands have paid their respects to the Pope today ahead of his funeral tomorrow.
Tens of thousands of mourners have continued filing into St Peter’s Basilica for the last opportunity to see Pope Francis’s open coffin ahead of his funeral tomorrow.
The body of the 88-year-old pontiff was brought to St Peter’s in a procession on Wednesday morning, and has been lying in state ever since.
The Vatican has said at least 150,000 people from all over the world have bid farewell to the Pope.
At his request, his coffin was placed low to the ground – breaking for the first time the Vatican’s tradition to place the body of the pontiff on a catafalque.
Ahead of the Pope’s funeral tomorrow, we’ll see his coffin sealed this evening during a liturgical rite held in St Peter’s Basilica, where his body has been lying in state.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside with several cardinals and Holy See officials also in attendance.
The ritual will see a bag of coins minted during Francis’s time as Pope placed in his coffin, as well as an account of his papacy which will be read aloud.
The moment will bring the end of public viewing in St Peter’s to a close, with the Vatican saying at least 150,000 mourners from around the world have been to pay their respects.
Good afternoon and welcome back to our live coverage.
In around an hour, public access for the queue to see Pope Francis lying in state will close, with access to St Peter’s Square also due to close shortly.
Tens of thousands of mourners have come to pay their respects to the pope in the last three days, but the final few are expected to be out of the basilica in the next hour.
The doors will then be closed and the final preparations will be made ahead of the funeral tomorrow morning.
We’ll be running you through what the process will be for the funeral tomorrow and keeping you up to date with all the latest news right here so stay tuned.
We’ll be pausing our coverage for now and won’t be providing more text updates – but you can follow live scenes from inside St Peter’s Basilica in our stream at the top of this page.
Today, thousands of people poured into St Peter’s to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose body is lying in state for three days ahead of his funeral on Saturday.
Watch below: Sky News inside the Vatican
Crowds stretched down the main boulevard leading through Rome into the Vatican, pressing forward slowly to see the pontiff in his open coffin.
Mourners have until 11pm UK time to see the Pope’s open casket today, although the Vatican did suggest earlier it was considering extending the hours due to demand.
Public viewing will continue tomorrow between 6am and 11pm UK time, with an earlier closing time of 6pm on Friday.
Saturday’s funeral will be attended by leaders from around the world, including Donald Trump, Prince William and Sir Keir Starmer.
One of four British cardinals has spoken for the first time since the death of Pope Francis.
Sky News asked Arthur Roche, 75, who will have a vote on the next pontiff, if Francis had ever personally struggled with issues he publicly addressed, such as the war in Gaza, migration and same-sex unions.
“He was just a straightforward man of the gospel,” Roche told chief presenter Anna Botting.
The Pope’s view was, he said: “If the Lord had said this in the gospel while he was with us, as a man, that’s what we were supposed to be doing.”
Roche added the Pope was “very carefree” about how the public should interpret what he said.
“But at the same time, he was a man of great compassion,” he said.
“And when you think of all the people that he’s had, as a head of state, to receive, the Vatican was always trying to be very open with everybody [and] doesn’t want to enter into conflict with any person.
“And that must have been difficult for him, I think, on some occasions.“
Vatican staff are setting up St Peter’s Square for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.
A big screen is in place, with dozens of chairs laid out.
By Adam Parsons, Europe correspondent in Rome
We were invited into St Peter’s Basilica by Vatican officials to see, hear and experience thousands of people filing past the coffin of Pope Francis.
Inside, it is peaceful and still.
Those who come to give thanks are a mixture – I saw nuns in a variety of habits and a group of priests.
But there were also visitors in football shirts, a man in a London Underground T-shirt and a series of family groups.
The doors are open to all, as long as you are prepared to wait. As I write this, the queue to get in is enormous – those joining now are expected to take eight hours to get to the front.
You can see Pope Francis’s clasped hands as you approach his coffin.
There is a palpable sense that, for those of deep faith, the open coffin allows simple confirmation that he truly has gone.
Around his coffin stand four Swiss guards, stock still.
A family come past, using sign language to share their emotions. A trio of nuns, smiling. A young woman in jeans, sobbing.
You can stand in front of the Pope’s coffin for only a matter of seconds before being moved on but, for many, this is an experience they will never forget.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free