The Vatican press service announced that, according to new data, over 250,000 people attended the funeral mass for Pope Francis in “St. Peter“s Square in the Vatican, ANSA reported, BTA reported.
Earlier it was reported about 200,000 people. After the end of the mass, the Pope's coffin was transported by popemobile from the Vatican Basilica to the Basilica “Santa Maria Maggiore“ in Rome, where the pope will be buried.
The funeral procession will pass by the Altar of the Fatherland and the Colosseum in Rome, and is expected to last about half an hour.
The funeral mass for Pope Francis ended with the return of his coffin to the Basilica of “Saint Peter“, Italian media reported earlier today. Before that, the head of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, delivered a homily in which he praised the life and works of Pope Francis.
Prayers, gestures of peace, communion, silence followed, and the clergy present at the ceremony were given the opportunity to approach the coffin. Then the coffin was sprinkled with holy water.