World leaders including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron have arrived in Rome ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.
Police sources have told Sky News around 200,000 people are expected to attend the pontiff’s funeral, including some 130 delegations, with around one million estimated to be trying to see the procession in Rome.
At least 250,000 people have taken the opportunity to view the 88-year-old’s casket as he lay in state over the last three days in St Peter’s Basilica.
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A livestream inside the basilica which had been broadcasting since Wednesday was stopped on Friday evening for the closing of the coffin, which was described as a “private act”.
An open-air funeral will take place in St Peter’s Square today, which will be attended by world leaders including the UK prime minister and US president, as well as the Prince of Wales, who is attending on behalf of the King.
It remains to be seen whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the funeral. He had been expected to attend but Ukrainian embassy sources have told US reporters he may not be there.
The funeral service typically lasts around two-and-a-half hours and will mostly be conducted in Latin.
Francis’s birth country of Argentina will be seated first, before Italy, a Vatican spokesperson has said, and then reigning sovereigns will be seated in alphabetical order but in the French language, followed by heads of state.
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales told Sky News’s Anna Botting he understood the seating plan to be “royalty first, then heads of state, then political leaders”.
He said the event would be “exactly the same Catholic rite as everyone else – just on a grander scale”.
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Mr Trump and his wife, first lady Melania, will be seated ahead of the British government’s delegation, which includes Sir Keir and his wife Victoria, as well as Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Prince William will sit with Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon as he is not a reigning monarch.
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After the funeral ceremony, the Pope’s remains will then be taken through the streets of Rome as his body is brought to his favourite church, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, where it will be interred in a simple underground tomb.
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The Vatican said a group of “poor and needy” people will be present on the steps leading to the basilica to pay their respects.
Scaffolding has been erected to give international media the best vantage points overlooking St Peter’s Square for the funeral while there is a strong Italian police presence managing numbers and security.
Watch full coverage of the Pope’s funeral live on Sky News from 8am.
