By plane and boat, on foot and in an electric popemobile, Pope Francis traveled year after year of his papacy, reaching dozens of countries on five continents.
His first official trip outside Rome was in 2013 to Lampedusa, a tiny Mediterranean island that had became a gateway for migrants. Not long afterward, he flew into the mountains of Bolivia and rode through the streets of Philadelphia and New York. He visited Mosul, an Iraqi city ruined by war, met with crowds in South Sudan, the world’s newest country, and crisscrossed Asia and the Pacific, with stops in Mongolia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
As his health grew frail in the months before his death, his movements grew more and more restricted to an ever-smaller circle, with his humble residence at a Vatican guesthouse at its center. After his death on April 21, Vatican officials moved to prepare his body for one last journey: a funeral procession to the church where he will be buried as the 266th pope.
Fourteen pallbearers carried the pope’s coffin from the basilica to the church’s steps. The master of liturgical ceremonies placed an open gospel on the simple wooden coffin.
In a view of the piazza from above, the cardinals’ section on one side of the coffin made for a brilliant red rectangle opposite the black rectangle of dignitaries in suits.
At the Mass, the pope’s body was placed before the mourners as a choir sang a psalm. Between the songs, the clerics led prayers in different languages.
Arriving dignitaries were escorted past the pope’s closed coffin before taking a seat.
The bells at St. Peter’s tolled before the procession started.
As dawn broke, thousands of people funneled into St. Peter’s Square through an elaborate crowd control system on Saturday. The crowd included students, schoolchildren and church groups.
Pope Francis last year approved guidelines to make his funeral a less grand affair than those of his predecessors.
On Friday night, the pope’s casket was closed in a private ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica 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.
People gathering to give Pope Francis a last farewell at his funeral in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
The faithful waiting in St. Peter’s Square for the service to start.
Nuns running to secure a spot in St. Peter’s Square.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend the open-air Mass.
Final preparations are made ahead of the funeral.
Thousands of police officers were on the streets of Rome early Saturday morning as the Italian authorities ramped up security ahead of the funeral.
Mourners waited from before dawn to enter St. Peter’s Square. Some spent the whole night outside.