World leaders and Catholic officials will pay their respects to Pope Francis a last time on Saturday morning, when his funeral Mass will be held in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
The funeral is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. local time Saturday, or 4 a.m. ET. MSNBC will cover the event live on the air and online at MSNBC.com. MSNBC’s special coverage of the funeral will begin at 3:45 a.m. ET, with Chris Jansing reporting live from Rome. The Vatican News service will also have a livestream of the funeral on YouTube.
Pope Francis’ body has been lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica since Wednesday, drawing massive crowds of mourners wanting to say their final farewells to the pontiff.
Francis’ funeral Mass will be a markedly more pared-down event compared with previous papal funerals. Last year, he made changes to funeral rituals in line with his more modest approach to the role.
A conclave will begin within the next few weeks to select a new head of the Catholic Church. Prominent heads of state are expected to attend the funeral — including some who publicly clashed with Pope Francis over his pointed criticism of their governments’ treatment of migrants and refugees. So far, leaders who have said they will attend include President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William of Britain.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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