Pope Francis moved to St. Peter’s Basilica for final goodbye

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Cardinals, bishops, and Vatican officials walk alongside Pope Francis’ coffin in St. Peter’s Square on April 23, 2025, during the solemn transfer as Swiss Guards stand in formal formation. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Pope Francis’ coffin was carried Wednesday morning in solemn procession to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the late pontiff will lie in state for three days for mourners to pay their final respects and say goodbye.

The rite began in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, where Francis lived for the 12 years of his pontificate, and where he was placed in a simple, zinc-lined coffin on April 21, hours after he died at the age of 88.

Swiss Guards accompany the pallbearers with the wooden coffin of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square on April 23, 2025, during the translatio — the solemn transfer of the pope's body for public viewing ahead of Saturday's funeral Mass. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Members of the lay confraternity of chair-bearers, called sediari pontifici, carried Pope Francis’ coffin — led in procession by priests, bishops, and cardinals — through Vatican City and to St. Peter’s Square, where thousands of mourners waited in total silence for a glimpse of their former pope.

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