Patiently they queue in their thousands to pay respects to the pontiff

POPE Francis will be laid to rest today in a huge security operation.

- By Stephen Beech

Fifty heads of state and 10 monarchs will be among VIPs from 170 countries at the Vatican service.

Prince William, representing the King, and Sir Keir Starmer lead the British delegation.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky will also be there and millions will watch on live TV.

The funeral of the pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, was scheduled to begin at 9am with the outdoor service led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the two-and-a-half hour ceremony in St Peter’s Square.

More than 130,000 mourners filed patiently past the open wooden coffin to pay their respects in the lead-up to the funeral as the body of Pope Francis lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica.

Anti-terror snipers were stationed on rooftops, all drone flights were banned and Italian fighter jets were put on standby.

Streets surrounding the Vatican were under strict control, with heavily-armed soldiers monitoring the vast crowds, backed up by mounted police and sniffer dogs.

Some of the hundreds of troops and police carried giant jammer guns to down any drones.

World leaders will stay outside the Vatican since the tiny city-state has “no capacity” to accommodate foreign heads of state.

Masterpiece

Prince William is listed beside Prince Haakon, of Norway, in the “order of precedence” of VIPs. Both are in the crown prince category and are followed in the list by representatives from Andorra.