Ammon News - Latin chants sounded across the Vatican as a long procession of red-hatted cardinals, bishops in violet capes and Swiss Guards in striped uniforms accompanied Francis’ body from his residency to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday.

Death knells tolled, and thousands of people lined up for hours in the Vatican to see the pontiff, who died on Monday morning at 88.

Francis’ body — dressed in papal vestments, with a white bishop’s miter on his head — will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica for several days to allow the faithful to bid farewell. On Wednesday, the Vatican said that the basilica might stay open after midnight because of the high turnout — 20,000 so far, according to estimates by the Vatican. NYT