Tens of thousands of mourners filed into St Peter’s Basilica to pay their respects to the late pontiff during the three days in which he lay in state. The funeral mass begins at 10am local time and will be led by the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals. Soldiers in St Peter’s Square have been equipped with guns that shoot down drones, while rooftop snipers and fighter jets are on standby. “We are feeling really sorry about this death because he was the only pope who really stood with refugees and vulnerable people,” said Daoud. Francis is the first pontiff in more than a century not to be buried with great fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica.
