Priests, pilgrims and cardinals dressed in black robes and red sashes mixed in the streets of the Vatican on Thursday as tens of thousands of Catholics paid their respects to Pope Francis and preparations for his funeral accelerated.
The church also released the first image of the pope’s tomb — a simple, undecorated affair in accordance with his will — made with marble from the Liguria region of Italy and marked with the inscription, “Franciscus.”
The conclave to select the next pope has not yet started — the Vatican has not announced when voting will begin — but cardinals on Thursday morning held their third congregation meeting in the Holy See’s apostolic palace since Francis died on Easter Monday.
During the gatherings, the cardinals decide on the logistics of the mourning period, but Vatican experts say they can also set the agenda for the conclave and privately lay out their priorities as they get ready to choose the next pope. More cardinals have arrived in Rome in recent days ahead of Francis’ funeral on Saturday.
As they trickled out of a door in the Vatican near the Sant’Anna church on Wednesday, after their second meeting since Francis died, some cardinals outlined topics that they wanted the church to focus on.
“The central point is the preaching of the authentic faith as it is,” said one conservative cardinal, Mauro Piacenza.
Most of the cardinals’ decisions that have been publicly disclosed have related to arrangements for Francis’ funeral and commemorations, but the churchmen will also need to pick a date for the conclave.
Francis named many more cardinals than his two predecessors, including a number from outside Europe. As a consequence, a major function of the pre-conclave meetings will be to allow many of the cardinals to get to know each other.
Fewer than half of the 252 cardinals have arrived in Rome, with 113 attending a meeting on Thursday, the Vatican said. The cardinals were set to meet again on Friday morning, with more arriving ahead of Francis’ funeral.
After the funeral, the meetings can also become a stage for discussion and debates about wider issues facing the church.
During one of the congregation meetings before the 2013 conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave a speech that emphasized the church’s duty to reach those at the “peripheries.” The speech made a significant mark, and Cardinal Bergoglio was elected in the ensuing conclave, becoming Pope Francis.
The Vatican said on Thursday that because Francis had devoted much of his papacy to marginalized communities, a group of “poor people” would greet his coffin on the steps of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore after the funeral and before his burial.
So far, 130 delegations have confirmed their attendance at the funeral, including about 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs, the Vatican noted.
Since Wednesday, more than 60,000 people have paid their respects to Francis, whose body was lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican said. The church stayed open until 5.30 a.m. on Thursday and reopened at 7 a.m. as thousands more lined up in St. Peter’s Square to file past his coffin.
Father Joseph Damin, a priest from Haiti, said that he had seen the pope just a few days earlier as Francis drove amid the faithful after an Easter Mass.
“He was among us giving blessings,” Father Damin said. “It was really striking to see him in a coffin.”
Some of the mourners had already come to see the body several times. Others felt an obligation to pay their respects.
“Pope Francis is watching us from up there,” said Bruna Donato, 70. “He knows who goes and who doesn’t.”
