Vatican announces 3 days of public viewing for Pope Francis, followed by funeral on Saturday

Pope Francis's funeral will be held on Saturday in St. Peter's Square, Roman Catholic cardinals decided on Tuesday, setting the stage for a solemn ceremony that will draw leaders from around the world.

Meanwhile, the Vatican said in a statement that people will be able to pay their final respects to Francis in St. Peter's Basilica from Wednesday through Friday. The pontiff, who died aged 88 on Monday, will lie in state inside his coffin.

The funeral service for the Pope will be held in St. Peter's Square, in the shadow of the Basilica, on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). It will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals.

Francis's body will be taken into the adjacent St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday at 9 a.m. local time, in a procession led by cardinals. Catholic faithful and the general public will be able to visit from 11 a.m. to midnight on Wednesday, 7 a.m. to midnight on Thursday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday.

Francis, the first pope from Latin America, died on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said. The pontiff spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year for double pneumonia. But he returned to his Vatican home almost a month ago and had seemed to be recovering, appearing in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday.

He started to feel unwell at around 5:30 a.m. local time on Monday and was promptly attended to by his team. More than an hour later he made a gesture of farewell to his ever-present nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, and slipped into a coma.

"He did not suffer, and it all happened very fast," the Vatican media channel said.

His time of death was given as 7:35 a.m.

The Vatican on Tuesday released photographs of Francis dressed in his vestments and laid in a wooden coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his 12-year papacy. Swiss Guards stood on either side of the casket as dignitaries, including Italian President Sergio Mattarella, paid homage.

Among the heads of state set to attend will be Javier Milei, president of Francis's native Argentina, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a break from tradition, Francis confirmed in his final testament released on Monday that he wished to be buried in Rome's Basilica of Saint Mary Major and not St. Peter's, where many of his predecessors were laid to rest.

Pope Francis during his tenure worked hard to overhaul the Vatican's central administration, root out corruption and, after a slow start, confront the scourge of child abuse within the ranks of the priesthood.

He often clashed with conservatives, nostalgic for a traditional past, who saw Francis as overly liberal and too accommodating to minority groups, such as the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

His death set in motion ancient rituals, as the 1.4-billion-member Church started the transition from one pope to another, including the breaking of the pope's "Fisherman's Ring" and lead seal so they cannot be used by anyone else.