Thousands of mourners lined up for hours on a second day to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis’s body, after St Peter’s Basilica stayed open all night to cope with the huge crowds who had come to pay their final respects.
The 16th-century basilica, where Francis’s simple wooden coffin is placed on the main altar, was scheduled to close at midnight on Wednesday but remained open until 5.30am to allow in those who still wished to enter. After just 90 minutes of cleaning, it was reopened at 7am.
The Vatican said more than 90,000 people had viewed the late pontiff’s body since the basilica opened to the faithful for a three-day period that ends on Friday.
The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in Casa Santa Marta on Monday, aged 88, after a stroke and subsequent heart failure.
In interviews with Italian media, the head of the pontiff’s medical team said Francis had died quickly without suffering, and there was nothing doctors could have done to save his life.
Sergio Alfieri, a physician at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said he received a phone call at about 5.30am on Monday to come quickly to the Vatican. “I entered his rooms and he [Francis] had his eyes open,” the doctor told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, adding: “I tried to call his name, but he did not respond to me ... He was in a coma.
“In that moment, I knew there was nothing more to do.” The pope had been recovering from double pneumonia, which had kept him in hospital for five weeks. However, his recovery appeared to be going well. The day before he died, the pontiff had appeared in St Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday.
Alfieri said he last saw Francis on Saturday afternoon, and the pope “was very well”.
In a separate interview with La Repubblica news outlet, Alfieri said Francis had shared one final regret with him – not being fit enough to perform a foot-washing ritual on the feet of prisoners last week. The pope used to conduct the symbolic act of service and humility to echo the story of Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet.
“He regretted he could not wash the feet of the prisoners,” said the doctor. “‘This time I couldn’t do it’ was the last thing he said to me.”
His body was moved to the basilica on Wednesday, when thousands of people started queueing for hours under the hot spring sun in St Peter’s Square to see Francis, who will lie in state until Friday evening.
In keeping with his requests for simple funeral rites, Francis was dressed in his vestments, holding a rosary, with his open casket lined with red cloth.
Unlike those of most of his predecessors, his coffin, which is being watched over by two Swiss Guards, has not been raised on a platform. That was one of the rituals Francis shunned when he simplified rules for papal funerals last year.
His funeral mass will take place at St Peter’s Square on Saturday morning. The Vatican has said 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs will attend.
Francis will then be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding tradition. On Thursday the Vatican released a photo of the alcove in the church where he will be laid to rest, with only a simple inscription: “Franciscus.”. The small niche, until the pope chose it for his burial spot, was used to store candlestick holders.
The heart of Rome is expected to be closed to traffic on Saturday to allow the funeral motorcade to make its way slowly from St Peter’s Square to Santa Maria Maggiore, giving Romans a chance to say a final farewell.
The Vatican said on Thursday a group of “poor and needy” had been invited to welcome the pope’s casket to the basilica. “The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” the Vatican said.
As the funeral rituals continue, speculation is rife about who will succeed Francis. On Wednesday evening, 103 cardinals met and approved nine days of mourning from the date of the funeral, with a conclave – the secret election process to choose a new pope – therefore not expected to begin before 5 May.
There is no clear frontrunner, although Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines, and Pietro Parolin, from Italy, who were among the procession, are early favourites.
Reuters contributed to this report
