A woman holds an image of Pope Francis outside the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Saturday.Tomas Cuesta / Getty Images
People during a pilgrimage through Buenos Aires on Saturday.Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP – Getty Images
A woman holds a picture of Pope Francis sipping mate that reads “THANK YOU” during a mass to bid him farewell in front of the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Saturday.Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP – Getty Images
Images from the home country of Pope Francis show tearful vigils and large crowds of supporters in Argentina’s capital.
The conclave is unlikely to start before May 6, although that’s not guaranteed.
Pope John Paul II’s 1996 rules on the election of popes say the cardinals must wait at least 15 days before entering a conclave, to allow the cardinals time to arrive and prepare.
But in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI added the qualification that conclaves can start earlier if all the cardinal electors have arrived in Rome and decide to move forward the start date.
The cardinals set the date for the conclave. Their next meeting is on Monday morning at 9 a.m. Rome time. All the electors must arrive in Rome and swear the oath to observe the rules for the election of a new pope, including maintaining secrecy.
We know that 149 cardinals attended last Friday’s meeting. We don’t currently know how many of these are electors, or how many have arrived since yesterday. The Vatican press office may clarify those numbers closer to the conclave. At the time of Pope Francis’ death, there were 135 voting members of the College of Cardinals.
The conclave of 2013 started 11 days after Benedict XVI abdicated. The entry date of the conclave was decided after just five days of General Congregations. But Benedict XVI announced his intention to abdicate 17 days before the Sede Vacante, so there had already been discussion about when the conclave should start, and there was no funeral to prepare. Many cardinals had already traveled to Rome for the start of the interregnum.
The 2005 conclave started 16 days after the death of John Paul II.
And 20 days is still the maximum time allowed after the death of a pope before the election must begin, even if some cardinal electors are not present.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners pack the funeral in St. Peter’s Square as Pope Francis’ coffin, surrounded by cardinals and dignitaries, can be seen in the satellite image.
Maxar collected new satellite image of Pope Francis’ funeral in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies
Experience the scene in and around Vatican City as the world honored the life and service of Pope Francis.
Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell presided over the “private burial,” the Vatican said.Vatican Media
A private ceremony to lay Pope Francis to rest has finished at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica, the Vatican has said in a Telegram statement.
Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell presided over the “private burial,” it said, adding that the ceremony was “conducted according to the prescriptions of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis.”
“Senior cardinals and Francis’ family members were present during the ceremony,” it added.
A street vendor sells posters of the late Pope Francis outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Natacha Pisarenko / AP
Thousands attend a Mass in Dili, East Timor.Valentino Darriell De Sousa / AFP – Getty Images
Catholics watch a live telecast of the funeral ceremony in Hyderabad, India.Mahesh Kumar A. / AP
A Mass in Denpasar, on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.Sonny Tumbelaka / AFP – Getty Images
Fr. John Bartunek joined “Saturday TODAY” to reflect on Pope Francis’ legacy for the Catholic Church and what the next steps will be for selecting his successor.
“For the last 12 years, Pope Francis has been modeling the way for young clergy, young priests, young missionaries, modeling the way in a very particular way, that to spread the good news of the Gospel we start with encountering real people, and then we talk about doctrine,” he said.
Reporting from Vatican City
Among those trying to catch a glimpse of Francis’ coffin as it passed through Rome were Savaraachi Christi, 52, who told NBC News he was originally from Sri Lanka but has lived and worked in Italy for 26 years.
Francis “opened the Catholic Church to many people,” he said as he waited with his wife and two children.
Pointing to his son Jerome, he said the 7-year-old “wanted to go to pay his respects, so last Friday we also went St Peter’s Basilica to say goodbye to the Pope.”
Reporting from Vatican City
The “breathtaking and moving funeral” brought his family to tears, Jordan Lynch told NBC News shortly after the ceremony came to an end.
Lynch said he lined up for three hours to view the pontiff’s open casket yesterday, along with his wife, Katie, 36, and their four boys, Jackson, 11, Michael, 9, Caleb, 7, and James, 3.
“We took this opportunity to be able to expose our children to this amazing Catholic community and to experience this whole weekend,” said Lynch, 38. “It’s just been a blessing.”
His son Michael said seeing the Pope was “really amazing,” adding that it was his “first time ever being inside that basilica, so it was really special to me.”
“It felt like, ‘I can’t believe I’m right by a pope,’” he said.
After the very public ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, a private burial ceremony, led by Cardinal Chamberlain Kevin Joseph Farrell, is taking place at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica.
The funeral Mass marks the start of nine official days of mourning called Novemdiales. This will see a Mass held every day in Francis’ memory.
Cardinals attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Then, the cardinals will come together at the Vatican for the conclave, which will see them vote in secret for Francis’ successor.
When that will start is yet to be announced, but it normally starts around 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death. That would suggest it will likely start sometime after May 6.
Reporting from Vatican City
As Pope Francis’ coffin passed him, Mexican seminarian Rodrigo Herrera couldn’t stop the tears.
“I just saw him last week, giving his last effort, his last pool, just giving it all for the church,” he told NBC News. “Now, I’ve got to say goodbye to his coffin. It’s a moment to say goodbye,” added Herrera, who began studying under Francis.
Along with the rest of the crowd, he watched on respectfully. There was light applause and some people waved in the direction of the hearse. Many had their phones up.
A calm silence followed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described his meeting with President Donald Trump as “good,” in a post on X.
Reporting from Vatican City
The Mass has been over for almost an hour, but the crowd of people leaving St. Peter’s Square does not seem to end.
Volunteers and law enforcement officers are shouting instructions, and civil guard workers are locking hands to prevent people, some of them weary, from going the wrong way. Some are trying to make their way to Francis’ final resting place at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica.
St. Peter’s Square after the late Pope Francis’ funeral ceremony on Saturday.Henry Nicholls / AFP – Getty Images
“We left last night from Cagliari. It’s me, my son and our priest. We bought our flight at the last minute and couldn’t find anywhere to sleep. We spent the night out here so we could get close to the altar,” Alessio Fenu, a tobacco bar business owner from Sardinia, told NBC News.
“We made it, but we haven’t slept for two days, and even tonight we have nowhere to stay. We have to sit down and rest for a second, then we’ll figure out when to go home and what to do tonight,” added Fenu, 46.
Reporting from Vatican City
In accordance with his wishes, Pope Francis’ funeral was very simple, as was the transfer of his coffin to his final resting place in the St. Mary Major Basilica.
Despite the large crowd, there was silence, only broken when people started applauding on several occasions.
There was also great symbolism in the fact that although he was joined by international delegations, heads of state and monarchs, his last wishes were for the poor and needy to stand on the steps of St. Mary Major and greet his coffin.
Reporting from Vatican City
Pope Francis would have approved of the meeting between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, before his funeral, theologian and papal biographer George Weigel told MSNBC earlier.
“One has to hope that this entire experience of the past several hours has reminded public officials from all over the world that they are men and women under judgment, that they are going to have to give an account of their stewardship,” Weigel said.
“True, real and enduring peace is not simply making deals,” he said, adding: “Peace has a lot to do with justice, with the restoration of justice after it’s been violated, and has been massively the case in Ukraine.”
The pope’s coffin has arrived at its final resting place at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in central Rome. Francis is the first pope in over a century to be buried outside the Vatican.
Stefano Costantino / AFP – Getty Images
The entombment will be a private event to allow those closest to him to pay their respects.
Reporting from Vatican City
While paying their respects to Pope Francis, a group of students from the Catholic University of America told NBC News they were starting to think about who might succeed Pope Francis.
“It’s been intense to see Rome this way, to see it so packed and crowded, but it’s really cool that all these people from our faith are so active and so present,” said Annie Munn, 19.
She added that she really admired Francis because of how “welcoming he was to different populations in the church, and that he opened his arms to different communities.”
She added that she hoped his successor was “somebody who just loves people and loves God and makes it his priority to love one another.”
Her fellow student Ella Foret, 19, added she hoped the new pope would be someone who “just brings our youth together … someone who could just really embody that and show us all what it means to be one big community together.”
The streets of Rome are lined with thousands of mourners as Pope Francis’ coffin is being transported to his final resting place in Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica.
Many are applauding and some are in tears as he passes on his final journey in the popemobile.
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at the Vatican today.
AFP – Getty Images
AFP – Getty Images
A bell is tolling a death knell over the Vatican as the funeral Mass for Pope Francis has come to a close after more than two hours.
Antonio Masiello / Getty Images
His casket will now proceed in a 4-mile procession from the Vatican to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, in central Rome, where Francis will be entombed.
As the requiem Mass came to an end, there was applause from some of those congregated in St. Peter’s Square as Francis’ coffin was carried back into St Peter’s Basilica.
Reporting from Vatican City
Three days of public viewing of Pope Francis’ body ended Friday evening, after some 250,000 people paid their respects to a pontiff beloved by many for his gestures of compassion and humility, and outreach to outsiders, immigrants and the downtrodden.
Earlier, crowds packed into St. Peter’s Square to line up to say their final goodbyes to Francis, and hundreds ended up being turned away when the square was closed hours before the viewing period ended at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET). On Wednesday and Thursday, larger-than-expected crowds prompted officials to extend opening hours overnight.
Friday was Liberation Day, which commemorates Italy’s liberation from Nazi occupation and fascist rule, so many people may have waited for this opportunity to bid farewell to the pope before his coffin was closed.
Priests distributed Holy Communion among the crowd, many of whom knelt behind the security barriers to receive it.
As they made their way around St. Peter’s Square, the choir sang a Communion antiphon in Latin.
Reporting from Vatican City
It’s incredible when you look at this and you think about all the things that are happening in the world, and how there are so many world leaders at odds right now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the funeral.Michael Kappeler / dpa/picture alliance via Getty I
But they are coming together, at least for 90 minutes, to celebrate this great man, Pope Francis, for all the work he had done, and for a moment at least, for a few hours, the world will come together in peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to get applause from the crowd as he entered St. Peter’s Square, NBC News’ Tom Llamas reports.
President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, were nearby, along with delegations from scores of other countries.
As we near the end of the funeral service, Cardinal Re is giving the final commendation, the prayer in which Francis’ soul is entrusted to God and seeks consolation for the Catholic faithful.
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
As people in the crowd in St. Peter’s Square were encouraged to shake hands with those around them as a sign of peace, President Donald Trump was seen pressing the flesh with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and several other world leaders.
Although he was not sitting near President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he was nonetheless surrounded by some of Ukraine’s strongest allies, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is sitting behind him.
Martina Ucci
Reporting from Vatican City
In addition to the 40,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, there are an estimated 100,000 more on Via della Conciliazione, the wide street leading to this historic site.
Among them is Like Lea Lenoci, 16, who came from the Italian city of Genoa with 30 of her classmates. Like many other groups of young people, Lenoci and her friends have been here since dawn.
People watch Pope Francis’ funeral ceremony on a large screen in Via della Conciliazione. Henry Nicholls / AFP – Getty Images
“We had already planned to come to Rome for the canonization of Carlo Acutis,” she said, referring to the teenager who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006 and was set to become the first millennial saint. “When that was postponed, we decided to come anyway and be here in this very important moment,” she said.
Nearby, Christoph Hensel, 47, a priest from Munich, was accompanying some young people from his parish. “It was a last-minute decision,” he said. “We wanted to be here and we left last night, arriving this morning at 7 a.m. Tonight we will sleep as guests of another parish here in Rome.”
After the liturgy of the Eucharist comes the Communion rite. The blessing turns the bread into the body of Christ, according to Catholic belief.
Reporting from Vatican City
Katherine Gilligan, 59, was visiting Rome last week from Jacksonville, Florida, and decided to postpone her return journey when Pope Francis died.
“Yesterday, we stood in line five hours to see the pope’s body,” said Gilligan, sitting on the ground in St. Peter’s Square with four of her 14 children. “Today, the line was much less long.”
Katherine Gilligan, second from right, with her children at the Vatican this morning. Martina Ucci
“I could not have been anywhere else today. For me, Pope Francis was a wonderful pope, a gift that the lord gave us,” she said. “He has loved us and taught us piety. It will be difficult for there to be another pope like him.”
The crowds in St. Peter’s Square broke into applause as Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re talked about the need to end wars.
“War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools,” he said, adding that Francis, by his own expression, said, “War always leaves the world worse than it was before. It is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone.”
“‘Build bridges, not walls,’ was an exaltation he repeated many times,” he added.
There was also applause as Re recalled that Francis’ first trip as pope was to Lampedusa, the Italian island where boats full of migrants land after making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing from North Africa.
Calling the visit “significant,” Re said the island represented “the tragedy of emigration, with thousands of people drowning at sea.”
“In the same vein was his trip to Lesbos,” Re noted, referring to the Greek island where many migrants from Syria and other countries had landed, escaping war. During a trip to Mexico, Francis also visited the border with the U.S., he said.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist, a celebration of the Last Supper, where Jesus broke bread and shared a cup of wine with his disciples, has now started.
The center of Catholic Masses, it begins with an offertory chant, which accompanies the procession that brings the bread and wine to the altar.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is now delivering the homily for Pope Francis, who he said “touched hearts and sought to reawaken moral and spiritual sensibilities.”
“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this Earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” he said.
Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images
Francis, he added, “established direct contact with individuals and peoples, eager to be close to everyone, with a marked attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalized, the least among us.”
“He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the church,” Re said.
Large crowds are filing in and around Saint Peter’s Square as people gather to say goodbye to Pope Francis.
Authorities are expecting 500,000 people to attend, and huge screens have been set up so people can watch the services.
Reporting from Vatican City
Among the tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square is Anna Lamberti, an 18-year-old from Milan, Italy.
Martina Ucci
She had traveled to Rome last week for the Jubilee for Teenagers, an event that was supposed to be one of religious celebration for 80,000 young people — but has instead turned into a mass youth gathering mourning the late pope.
Martina Ucci
“Pope Francis was very attentive to us. He made us feel heard and loved,” she said, sharing sunscreen with friends under the warm, blue sky. “We’ve been here since 7 a.m.. We stood in line for a while and then tried to get as far ahead as possible.”
The “entrance antiphon” that started the ceremony was taken from Psalm 64, Verses 2-5. “Praise is due to you in Zion, O God. To you we pay our vows in Jerusalem,” it began.
An antiphon is a passage from scripture, usually one of the Psalms, sung as a refrain at the start of liturgical ceremonies.
Reporting from Vatican City
Police and the authorities have told NBC News that the biggest challenge of today is that the procession with Francis’ coffin will move at walking pace through the heart of Rome after the funeral at St. Peter’s Square.
It will travel about 4 miles from St. Peter’s Square to his final resting place in Santa Maria Maggiore, or St. Mary Major, a church he visited 125 times, including on the first day he was named pope. He prayed there often.
Crowds gather outside of the Basilica of St. Mary Major this morning.Michael Robinson Chávez / Getty Images
At the basilica in the center of Rome, there will be a crowd including poor and marginalized people lining the steps as he enters that basilica.
This is what Pope Francis designed. This is what he wanted, to end the day with people from the marginalized communities that he cared so deeply about.
Reporting from Vatican City
There was a huge round of applause when the crowd here saw the coffin being taken out of St. Peter’s Basilica and into the square on the huge jumbotron.
It’s a beautiful sunny day here, not a single cloud in the sky, a perfect day for a solemn occasion.
Reporting from Vatican City
Thousands gather for the funeral in St. Peter’s Square.Martina Ucci
There are at least 4,000 police officers on duty as the funeral takes place and at least 3,000 volunteers are helping those who have come to pay their respects.
The order of service, published by the Vatican, contains the prayers and hymns of today’s Mass in English and Italian.
The second reading comes from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians.
“Brothers and sisters, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
The liturgy is now taking place with the first reading of the funeral coming from the Acts of the Apostles.
Michael Robinson Chávez / Getty Images
Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images
Crowds gather beneath a banner reading “Thank you, Francisco” in Italian, as others spill onto the streets surrounding the Vatican to watch the funeral ceremony on a large screen.
The funeral service is being led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.
Born in Brescia, Italy, the 91-year-old has spent five decades serving in the Roman Curia since being ordained in 1957. In 2001, Pope John Paul II proclaimed him as a cardinal.
In January, he became the dean of the College of Cardinals, the body comprising the most senior figures of the Catholic Church, and the one that will decide the next pope in a highly secretive ritual known as the conclave.
However, he won’t participate in the upcoming conclave, as cardinals over the age of 80 are excluded from voting.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images
Pope Francis’ coffin has been laid in the square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, signaling the start of the funeral service that will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
Tiziana Fabi / AFP – Getty Images
Reporting from Vatican City
The late pope’s tombstone is made of marble from the northern Italian region of Liguria, where Francis’ grandparents were from, according to the Vatican.
President Donald Trump is one of the many world leaders to join the crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the funeral, which has now been closed to the public after reaching full capacity of 50,000 people.
Tiziana Fabi / AFP – Getty Images
His predecessor, Joe Biden, is also attending along with Britain’s Prince William. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, and Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia will be among other European royal families represented, along with Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
Britain’s Prince William ahead of the funeral ceremony.Alberto Pizzoli / AFP – Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres are among the 164 foreign delegations invited to attend. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are also in Rome for the funeral.
The guests will be seated according to French alphabetical order.
Reporting from Vatican City
A group of poor and needy people will welcome Pope Francis’ body at St. Mary Major, where he will be buried later today, symbolizing the legacy of the late pontiff, who chose his papal name to emphasize the spirit of poverty and peace embodied by St. Francis of Assisi.
“For this reason, a group of poor and needy people will be present on the steps leading to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pay their final respects to Pope Francis before the entombment of his casket,” the Vatican said Thursday.
It is symbolic of the Pope’s life, pontificate and legacy that the rich and powerful, including the heads of state, cardinals and clergy of the world, will bid him farewell when he leaves St. Peter’s Square one last time after the funeral, and the poor and destitute will welcome him on the steps of the Basilica where he will rest in peace.
Reporting from Vatican City
About an hour before the funeral of Pope Francis gets underway, St. Peter’s Square looks close to reaching its full capacity of 40,000 people, police said.
An estimated 100,000 people are already present on Via della Conciliazione, the large road that leads up to St. Peter’s Square, and along the access roads, the force said in a statement, adding that 140 delegations have already entered the Vatican this morning.
In life, Pope Francis strayed from the more conservative path forged by his predecessors Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict.
But in death, Francis will follow many of John Paul’s footsteps.
The demise of the first Argentine to lead the Roman Catholic Church set into motion a series of rituals, some of which go back more than 2,000 years and have been used to bury more than 250 popes.
They are compiled in a more than 400-page tome called the “Ordo exsequiarum Romani pontificis,” which includes the liturgy, music and prayers used for papal funerals over the centuries.
As thousands are set to gather for Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, security will be on high alert, with thousands of police and special forces on the ground, aerial surveillance and an anti-drone military unit in the area. NBC’s Molly Hunter reports for “TODAY.”
Most internal promotions don’t get this much attention. Most job selection processes don’t have centuries of history behind them — and few, if any, have a special name.
But then, most job selections don’t end with a new pope.
Catholic cardinals from around the world are converging on Vatican City in advance of the conclave that will elect the successor to Pope Francis, who died Monday. Favorites have emerged, and once the conclave begins it likely won’t be long before a new pope is announced, as data shows that conclaves don’t take as long as they used to.
Conclaves were first used to elect a pope about eight centuries ago, with early elections lasting months, even years.
