POPE Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday, the Vatican announced Tuesday, as world leaders from US President Donald Trump to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader.
The Argentine pontiff, 88, died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.
His funeral, which is expected to draw huge crowds, will take place at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Saturday in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Francis’s coffin — which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc — will then be taken inside the church and from there to the Rome basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.
The date was set by the first so-called “general congregation” of cardinals on Tuesday morning, which kicked off a centuries-old process that culminates in the election of a new pontiff within three weeks.
The pope’s body was photographed during a service Monday evening in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence where he lived during his 12-year papacy, and where he died.
Francis was wearing his red papal vestments, a mitre on his head and had a rosary between his fingers.
Tributes have poured in from around the globe for Francis, a liberal reformer who took over following the resignation of German theologian Benedict XVI in 2013.
His home country, Argentina, prepared for a week of national mourning while India began three days of state mourning on Tuesday — a rare honour for a foreign religious leader in the world’s most populous nation.
Heads of state and royalty are expected for his funeral, due to be held at St Peter’s Basilica, with Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron the first to announce they would attend.
On Tuesday, a source at the Ukrainian presidency told AFP that Zelensky, too, would come to Rome.
Cardinals of all ages are invited to the congregations, although only those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for a new pope in the conclave.
The conclave should begin no less than 15 and no more than 20 days after the death of the pope.
In choosing to be buried in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, he will become the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican.
His death certificate released by the Vatican said Francis died of a stroke, causing a coma and “irreversible” heart failure.
He had been discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on March 23 and ordered to spend at least two months resting.
But Francis, who never took a holiday and delighted in being among his flock, made numerous public appearances in recent days.
He appeared exhausted on Sunday during the Easter celebrations, but nevertheless greeted the crowds in his popemobile in St Peter’s Square.
Argentine football great Lionel Messi hailed his compatriot — himself a huge fan of the beautiful game — for “making the world a better place”.