Public viewing for Pope Francis begins Wednesday ahead of Saturday funeral

VATICAN CITY — Rosa del Carmen Esquivel Telles was supposed to meet the pope today.

A tourist from Guadalajara, Mexico, Esquivel Telles, 55, got on a waitlist three months ago, for a group audience with Pope Francis. She’d prayed to him after being diagnosed with leukemia in 2017. Now in remission, she’s made pilgrimage to the Vatican, to give thanks.

“It was a dream of mine, to meet him. But now we have to say goodbye,” Esquivel Telles says, strolling the cobblestones of St. Peter’s Square with a rosary in her hands.

Faithful from around the world are pouring into the Vatican to mourn Francis, who died Monday of a stroke and ‘cardiocirculatory collapse.’ He was 88. Public viewing of his body will begin Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, after his casket is taken by procession from the Vatican hotel where he lived.

Ahead of that, tourists and locals lit candles and placed flowers, sympathy cards and children’s drawings around a pillar in St. Peter’s Square, and sang hymns.

“He was a very caring father, and revolutionary pope,” says Maria Munoz, 51, a tourist from Alicante, Spain. “He tried to change many things in a church that’s antiquated.”

The pope’s funeral will be Saturday

The Vatican says the pope’s funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. local time, celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

In a break from tradition, Francis’ last testament stipulates that his burial will not be in St. Peter’s Basilica, but instead in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a smaller church in a bustling immigrant-area of Rome.

After every foreign trip, Francis would visit the basilica to pray before a Byzantine-style painting of the Virgin Mary. He was last there about 10 days ago.

There are past popes buried there — but not for more than 350 years.

Among those who’ve confirmed they’ll travel to Rome for the funeral are President Trump and the first lady, Melania. “We look forward to being there!” Trump posted on social media. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said he would also attend.

First photos of the pope in his casket, and some of his last written words

On Tuesday, the Vatican also released the first photos of the pope in a red velvet-lined open casket. In one, he’s flanked by two Swiss Guards in striped uniforms. In another, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, prays alongside him. The pope wears red vestments and his bishop’s miter.

The images were taken during a ceremony Monday night to certify the pope’s death.

The Vatican Publishing House also Tuesday released a preface written by Francis in February of a book in Italian by Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop emeritus of Milan, entitled ‘Awaiting a New Beginning. Reflections on Old Age.”

In it, Francis writes that he finds “resonance” with the author’s topic of aging — and shares his own reflections.

“We must not be afraid of old age, we must not fear embracing becoming old, because life is life, and sugarcoating reality means betraying the truth of things,” the late pope wrote.

The book would be available in bookstores starting Thursday, the Vatican said.

Looking ahead to the conclave

Until a new pope is named, the acting head of the Vatican is the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell — a Dublin-born naturalized U.S. citizen. He’s in charge of sealing off the late pope’s apartment, destroying his symbolic fisherman ring and preparing the conclave, the process by which a new pope is elected.

The Vatican’s media office posted video to social media late Monday showing the doors of Francis’ apartment being tied shut with red ribbon, then sealed with red wax.

Catholic cardinals from around the world are making their way to the Vatican. Their conclave is expected to be held within 15 to 20 days of the pope’s death.

They vote, often in several rounds over several days, on who should be the next pontiff. Their votes take place in the Sistine Chapel and are completely secret.