FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Hundreds of thousands of people had the opportunity to visit St. Peter's Basilica, which remained open for extended hours due to the endless line of people waiting to pay their respects to Pope Francis.
People from all over the world have arrived at the Vatican in recent days to bid farewell to Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday morning after a long illness in hospital a few weeks ago.
Hundreds of thousands of people had the opportunity to visit St. Peter's Basilica, which remained open for extended hours due to the endless line of people waiting to pay their respects to Pope Francis.
Yesterday, St. Peter's Basilica remained open until 2:30 in the evening and reopened early in the morning at 5:40.
According to preliminary information coming from the Vatican, from the morning of Wednesday, April 23 at 11:00 to 8:00 this morning, over 128,000 people went to St. Peter's Basilica to greet Pope Francis.
The Vatican has said that access to the queue to see the Pope in St. Peter's Basilica will close at around 5:00 p.m. this evening, so that all those in line have the opportunity to reach the church and pass by the coffin.
They expect this process to be completed by 7:00 PM, when the basilica doors will close and final preparations will be made before the burial on Saturday morning.
Inside the square, preparations for tomorrow's ceremony are well underway. Hundreds of chairs are already lined up in neat rows - and organizers have placed red benches near the steps and marble platform just outside the Basilica's doors.
It is thought that around 130 delegations from around the world will participate, the last figure given by the Vatican was 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs.
This funeral will be a major global event watched and followed by millions of people around the world.
Archbishops and bishops will begin gathering at 8:30 a.m. local time in the Colonnade of Constantine, a corridor adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica. At the same time, Catholic priests will gather in St. Peter's Square.
Half an hour later, at 09:00 local time, the patriarchs of the Orthodox Church and the cardinals will gather in the chapel of Saint Sebastian, inside the basilica, where the remains of Pope John Paul II lie.
They will walk in a funeral procession accompanying the Pope's coffin, which has spent the last four days in the center of St. Peter's Basilica.
The funeral will begin at 10:00 a.m. when the coffin is placed in the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. The service will be led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
Guests and dignitaries will sit closer to the basilica and the coffin, with thousands of other clergy and members of the public surrounding St. Peter's Square, similar to the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI.
Lini një Përgjigje