The official programme of the ceremonies for Pope Francis:
9:00 am IST
St Peter’s Square opens.
1:00 pm IST
US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive in St Peter’s Square.
1:30 pm IST
The funeral mass begins. It will be presided over by Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.
Pope Francis’s wooden and zinc coffin, sealed on Friday evening, will be placed in front of the basilica before a temporary raised altar. To its left, facing St Peter’s, will sit the red-robed cardinals. To the right, official delegations from around the world, seated in alphabetical order.
The ceremony should last about 90 minutes, with 224 cardinals and 750 priests and bishops in attendance.
3:00 pm IST
The coffin leaves for Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome basilica where Pope Francis will be buried.
4:30 pm IST
The coffin arrives at Santa Maria Maggiore, where it will be welcomed by a group of the “poor and needy”.
The burial, presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, will take place in private.
