UK cardinal says Pope’s funeral to be ‘masterpiece’ in managing ‘big egos’

Final mourners were in a queue for their last chance to see Pope Francis’s remains – as a UK cardinal predicted the funeral will be a “masterpiece” in stage managing “big egos” as world leaders fly in to pay their respects.

US President Donald Trump is among those due to attend the requiem mass for the late pontiff, joining dignitaries from across the globe.

Tens of thousands of members of the public have queued and filed past Francis’s open coffin in St Peter’s Basilica, during its three-day lying-in-state which will end on Friday evening.

Funeral preparations are under way, with an altar in place and seats set out for cardinals as well as world leaders.

Italian police are on the ground managing crowds, while scaffolding has been erected to provide international media with the best vantage points overlooking the square, for a funeral expected to be watched by people around the world.

Vast crowds are expected to gather ahead of Saturday’s funeral in St Peter’s Square, which will see the highest-ranking members of the Catholic Church and major political leaders come together to bid a final farewell to the 88-year-old Pope.

Also on the list to attend are UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the Prince of Wales on behalf of the King, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Irish premier Micheal Martin and the nation’s President Michael D Higgins.

President Higgins was among those to visit the basilica on Friday, and was pictured alongside his wife Sabina as they paid their respects.

The queue will close to the public at 6pm local time, with viewings expected to end at 7pm.

Some 150,000 have passed by Francis’s coffin in the past three days.

An emergency alert rang out on phones in Vatican City on Friday, with a warning from the civil protection department that public access to St Peter’s Square would close at 5pm the same day.

Meanwhile, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said organisers of what will be an enormous gathering of well-known names “are geniuses at dealing with these big events”.

In an interview with the PA news agency in Rome, the Archbishop of Westminster said the funeral will be “without a doubt another masterpiece of stage management when you consider those state leaders who have high opinions of their importance”.

He added: “In the past, I’ve seen it here over and over again that the combination of Rome and the Holy See, they actually are geniuses at dealing with these big events.

“I think they’ve been doing it since the emperors ruled Rome – that they know how to deal with big egos.

“And I think every leader of a nation that comes here on Saturday, will go home reasonably content.”

Cardinal Nichols has described recent days since the Pope’s death on Easter Monday as “deeply emotional”.

He told how “moving” it was to sit in the basilica and watch as others solemnly filed past the coffin this week.

Following Saturday’s open-air funeral in the square, Francis’s remains will be taken through the streets of Rome in another break with tradition, as his body is brought to a simple underground tomb in the basilica of Saint Mary Major, as per his instructions.

Cardinal Nichols said this will “enlarge the stage on which this is played out, and will give the people of Rome, especially, something that they will appreciate very deeply”.

He added: “(Pope Francis’s) favourite title was ‘I’m Bishop of Rome’, so they will say goodbye to their bishop.”

The archbishop, who will be one of three UK cardinals to take part in the conclave process to elect the next pope, likely beginning in just over a week’s time, has also spoken of the weight felt by those who will choose a successor.

Ahead of taking part in his first conclave, and sharing that he does not expect “for half a second to be the one who is asked to pick up this cross” and become pope, he said he will “try my utmost to play a good part in the process”.

Asked about having described the prospect of conclave as intimidating, he said: “It’s the weight, the consequence of the choice we make, which is, even on the world stage, is significant.”

He described being chosen as pope as “a moment of a mini death, almost” for someone who at that point places “themselves into the hands of the Church to be offered to God”.

The conclave could begin on May 5, following a nine-day mourning period which starts with Saturday’s funeral.

On his thoughts about a future pontiff, Cardinal Nichols said: “I think the next pope is going to have to carry on that work (by Francis) of speaking to the hearts of people about hope, about the mercy of God, about the highest calling of what it means to be a human being.”