The public viewing for Pope Francis begins Wednesday ahead of the Saturday funeral of a 33-year-old tourist from Guadalajara, Mexico

A tourist from Guadalajara, Mexico, was on a wait list three months ago for an audience with Pope Francis. She had prayed to him after she was diagnosed with leukemia. Now in remission, she’s made pilgrimage to the Vatican, to give thanks.

I had dreamed of getting to meet him. But now we have to say goodbye,” Esquivel Telles says, strolling the cobblestones of St. Peter’s Square with a rosary in her hands.

The Vatican is overflowing with people from all over the world who are mourning the death of Francis. He died at 88. Public viewing of his body will begin Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, after his casket is taken by procession from the Vatican hotel where he lived.

Ahead of that, tourists and locals lit candles and placed flowers, sympathy cards and children’s drawings around a pillar in St. Peter’s Square, and sang hymns.

Source: Public viewing for Pope Francis begins Wednesday ahead of Saturday funeral

A Vatican Tour of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major: First Photos of the Pope Francis and a Preface to a Romance Book by Angelo Scola

“He was a very caring father, and revolutionary pope,” says Maria Munoz, 51, a tourist from Alicante, Spain. “He tried to change many things in a church that’s antiquated.”

The pope’s funeral will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. local time, according to the Vatican.

Francis’ last testament says that he will not be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica, but in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a church for immigrants that sits in a bustling immigrant area of Rome.

After every foreign trip, Francis would visit the basilica to pray before a Byzantine-style painting of the Virgin Mary. He was last there about 10 days ago.

Presidents, prime ministers and royalty are preparing to travel to Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, which will be the most prominent gathering of world leaders since President Trump’s inauguration in January.

On Tuesday, the Vatican also released the first photos of the pope in a red velvet-lined open casket. He is flanked by two Swiss Guards. The Vatican’s secretary of state prays in another. The pope wears vestments that are red.

The Vatican Publishing House also Tuesday released a preface written by Francis in February of a book in Italian by Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop emeritus of Milan, entitled ‘Awaiting a New Beginning. Reflections on Old Age.”

The late pope wrote that they should not fear becoming old because life is life, and sugar coating reality hurts the truth.

The Vatican is preparing for a new pope: the camerlengo, Mr. Farrell, during his visit to Brazil

Until a new pope is named, the acting head of the Vatican is the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell — a Dublin-born naturalized U.S. citizen. He’s in charge of sealing off the late pope’s apartment, destroying his symbolic fisherman ring and preparing the conclave, the process by which a new pope is elected.

The Vatican’s media office posted video to social media late Monday showing the doors of Francis’ apartment being tied shut with red ribbon, then sealed with red wax.

Catholic cardinals from around the world are making their way to the Vatican. The conclave will be held within the next 15 to 20 days.

They vote in a number of rounds on who should become the next pope. Their votes happen in the Sistine Chapel and they are not made public.

The president’s international affairs adviser confirmed that Mr. Duda and his wife would attend. A tribute was written by the leader of a deeply Catholic country to Francis on X, and he said that he was guided by humility and simplicity.

Brazil is mourning for Francis over the next seven days. The pope’s smile and optimism were remembered by Mr. Lula in a post on X.

Mr. Macron praised Francis for standing alongside “the most vulnerable and the most fragile,” and cut short a trip to the Indian Ocean region after the pope’s death.

Ms. Meloni led tributes to Francis on Monday, praising him as “a great man and a great pastor.” She was there while he was in the hospital. She said that she was able to enjoy his advice and teachings, which never failed even during times of trial and suffering.

The funeral on Saturday will cap almost a week of mourning for Francis, whose advocacy for migrants, the poor, the marginalized and those suffering under war often put him directly at odds with some of the powerful people who will pay their respects to him inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Francis had openly criticized some world leaders, like Mr. Trump, and faced stinging criticism from others, like President Javier Milei of Argentina, who once dismissed his countryman, the first pope from Latin America, as a “filthy leftist.”

Francis’ funeral will be Mr. Trump’s first foreign trip in his second term, and his first time seeing many of his global peers since he began to shake the world order with steep tariffs, erratic policy swings and dramatic deportations.

Mr. Milei’s office said on Tuesday that he would attend the funeral of Francis, a proud Argentine seen by many as a national hero. Mr. Milei and the pope seemed to reach an agreement on some issues last year.

The palace said that Prince William would attend on behalf of his father. The King and Queen met with Francis this month. Mr. Starmer, the head of the British government, described Francis’ leadership as “courageous” and noted his concern for “the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten” in a post on X.