4 months ago
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(NewsNation) — St. Peter’s Basilica extended its hours again Thursday to accommodate the tens of thousands of radical lined up to wage their respects to Pope Francis.
The basilica remained unfastened until 2:30 a.m. section clip connected Friday greeting and reopened astatine 5:40 a.m., signaling a bustling commencement to the last time for nationalist goodbyes to the pontiff. Thursday saw akin schedule adjustments.
Around 1 p.m. section clip Thursday, the Civil Protection Department sent an alert asserting that extended visiting hours volition not transportation into Friday.
"Farwell to Pope Francis. Access to St. Peter's Square volition adjacent astatine 5 PM connected April 25," the alert reads.
More than 125,000 person visited the basilica since the public mourning play began Wednesday, the Vatican said.
Francis, who died Monday astatine 88, volition stay successful his simple, unfastened casket astatine the basilica until his burial Saturday.
Pope Francis’ funeral: How to watch
Francis’ ceremonial work volition beryllium held astatine 4 a.m. EDT.
The proceedings volition statesman with a ceremonial wide successful St. Peter's Square — which is expected to beryllium attended by international heads of authorities — and past Francis volition beryllium laid to remainder astatine the Basilica of St. Mary Major, adjacent his favourite Madonna icon.
You tin ticker the ceremonial connected NewsNation’s cablegram transmission and NewsNation’s tract and app. Not definite however to ticker NewsNation? Find your transmission here.
Who is attending Pope Francis' funeral?
More than 130 delegations are slated to be Francis' funeral, including President Donald Trump.
Javier Milei, president of Francis' autochthonal Argentina, is besides expected to attend.
Reuters has reported the pursuing satellite leaders volition besides be the funeral:
- Prince William of Britain's royal family
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
- Bangladeshi interim person Muhammad Yunus
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and archetypal woman Janja Lula de Silva
- Croatian President Zoran Milanovic
- Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala
- Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof
- Estonian President Alar Karis
- Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa
- Finnish President Alexander Stubb
- Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- French President Emmanuel Macron
- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz
- Honduran President Xiomara Castro
- Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok
- Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin
- Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics
- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda
- Moldovan President Maia Sandu
- New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
- Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit
- Romania’s interim President Ilie Bolojan
- Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia
- Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson
- Switzerland’s President Karin Keller-Sutter
- Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Council President Antonio Costa, Parliament President Roberta Metsola
- East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Bendito Freitas
- Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and Prime Minister Bart De Wever
Vice President JD Vance volition not attend, a White House authoritative told NewsNation. Vance visited Francis during a little gathering connected Easter Sunday, the time earlier the pontiff died.
NewsNation's Ashley N. Soriano, Patrick Djordjevic, Jeff Arnold and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
