Pope Francis funeral today: 300,000 people expected to attend ceremony in Rome | 10 updates

Pope Francis, who passed away at 88 on Easter Monday, will be buried in Rome on Saturday. His funeral is expected to attract over 150 delegations.

Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, will be laid to rest on Saturday morning in Rome, Italy. His funeral will be attended by more than 150 delegations, including 54 heads of state and 12 reigning sovereigns, the Vatican confirmed, as well as thousands of faithful.

Cardianal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrel seals the zinc cover of the casket containing the body of late Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Friday. (AP)

Top updates on Pope Francis funeral:

1. More than 250,000 people paid their last respects to Pope Francis over three days of public viewing by ordinary mourners, church and political leaders that ended Friday, when his coffin was sealed ahead of his state funeral in St. Peter's Square and burial in a basilica outside the Vatican's walls.
   
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2. The coffin, originally in Francis’s residence in the chapel of the Santa Marta, had been moved to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning for three days in public view.
3. World leaders, including President Droupadi Murmu, US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei, along with royalty, converged on Rome for the funeral. But the group of marginalised people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Pope Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.
4. The Vatican said 164 delegations are confirmed, including 54 heads of state and 12 reigning sovereigns. French President Emmanuel Macron, who will also attend the funeral, was among those who made it in time to pay last respects to the pope.
5. Italy is deploying more than 2,500 police officers and 1,500 soldiers to provide security during the funeral, which is expected to gather about 200,000 mourners in St. Peter’s Square and up to 300,000 people along the 4-kilometre route from the Vatican to the pope's burial place across Rome.
6. Among the other foreign dignitaries confirmed for the papal funeral are: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
7. Francis is breaking with recent tradition and will buried in the St. Mary Major Basilica, near Rome's main train station, where a simple underground tomb awaits him with just his name: Franciscus.
8. As many as 300,000 people are expected to line the 4-kilometre otorcade route that will bring Francis’ casket from the Vatican through the centre of Rome to the basilica after the funeral.
9. Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, died Easter Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke while recovering at home from pneumonia.
10. Francis's admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals. He was considered a radical by some for allowing divorced believers to receive communion, approving the baptism of transgender believers and blessings for same-sex couples, and refusing to judge gay Catholics.

(With inputs from agencies)