Catholic faithful pay final respects to Pope Francis

Thousands of people filed through St Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Pope Francis yesterday at the start of three days of public viewing ahead of his funeral.

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Throngs of the faithful made their way to the 16th century basilica’s main altar where Francis’s open wooden casket was perched, as Swiss Guards stood at attention.

Over the coming days, tens of thousands of people are expected to pass through, and the Vatican said it may extend the viewer hours even longer due to high turnout. In the first 8 hours or so, 19,430 people paid their respects to the pope.

Francis was laid out in red robes, clasping a rosary and wearing a bishop’s miter, the traditional pointed headdress. Mourners waited hours to reach the casket, which was behind a cordon. Some held their cell phones aloft as they neared to snap photos in what has become a modern ritual.