Successor talk swirls as 61,000 pay homage to Pope Francis: Live updates

The public viewing for Pope Francis rolled into its second day Thursday as over 60,000 people paid their respects to the quietly strong pontiff who preached empathy and inclusion to the world's 1.4 billion Catholics throughout a 12-year reign.

Mourners solemnly walked through St. Peter's Basilica to pay homage to the late pontiff. The crowds were so overwhelming the Vatican, which on Wednesday had planned to close the church from midnight until 7 a.m., kept it open until 5:30 a.m. to accommodate mourners who had waited hours to pause at the open casket.

Lines stretched more than half a mile north of the Vatican, and some people reported waits of about three hours to get inside the basilica.

“He was a wonderful pope,” Alessandra Caccamo of Rome said as she waited outside the Vatican. “I’m going to miss him so much, because it’s like I’ve lost a piece of me.”

Even as Vatican City, Rome and the world prepare for Saturday's funeral, attention is slowly turning to his successor. A rotating committee of cardinals is overseeing Vatican operations until a new pope is elected at a conclave of cardinal electors next month.

They could decide on a progressive ready to build off the changes Francis brought to the church or a conservative who could ratchet back some of those changes.

“While progressive Catholics undoubtedly wished for larger church reforms in things like the priesthood and church teachings on sexuality, Francis’ legacy will likely be one of humility and keeping the boat steady during a decade of immense change," said Grace Yukich, assistant professor of sociology in religion at Quinnipiac University. She said that was "no small task in the midst of a global pandemic, climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence and other major crises.” 

More than 200,000 expected at Francis' Saturday funeral

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday in St. Peter's Square. It will be held at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

The pope, unlike many of his predecessors, will be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of St. Peter's Basilica. The funeral will kick off nine days of prayers and remembrance as the world's attention slowly turns to the issue of a successor.

About 2,000 police officers will be on duty, joined by thousands more officers from the national security forces. Security measures will include patrols on the Tiber River, drones and snipers.

Streets will be closed to traffic around the Vatican on Saturday. Authorities were still assessing the best route for the procession that will take the coffin from the funeral to the burial site.

US cardinal's role in Francis burial draws criticism

A retired American cardinal accused of mishandling sexual abuse cases has been appointed to a ceremonial role in Francis' burial, raising the ire of advocates for victims of such abuses by Catholic clergy.

Roger Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, will be among nine cardinals and dozens of other officials overseeing the sealing of Francis' casket and entombing of his remains over the weekend, according to the Vatican.

Church files released in 2013 as part of a lawsuit alleged Mahony was among church officials who protected several accused priests in the 1980s by sending them for treatment to psychiatrists known as friendly to the church. Mahony, who has denied any wrongdoing, apologized later "for my own failure to protect fully the children and youth entrusted into my care."

David Clohessy, former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Mahony's participation in the rites for Francis "sends the signal to complicit bishops that ... they will still be protected and honored by their peers."

When will a new pope be picked?

The election itself could take days as more than 100 cardinals gather to repeatedly vote until one candidate obtains two-thirds of the votes. For the duration of the election, the cardinal electors and those involved in "ensuring the proper conduct of the election" reside in the Casa Santa Marta − essentially a Vatican apartment building where Francis lived.

Voting takes place in the Sistine Chapel. Prior to 1996, cardinals were not allowed to leave the Sistine Chapel throughout the voting process.

If the electors fail to reach an agreement on a candidate after three days of voting, a break of up to one full day is allowed for prayer, "free discussion among voters, and a brief spiritual exhortation by the Cardinal Proto-Deacon," according to the Vatican.

Are the cardinals already meeting?

Ahead of the conclave, which is not expected to begin until at least May 6, cardinals in Rome are meeting each day, mainly to discuss logistical matters.

Thursday’s meeting lasted about three hours and 113 cardinals took part, the Vatican said. The next meeting is expected Friday morning. The cardinals will not meet on the day of the funeral.

Who will replace Pope Francis?

Though no front-runner to replace Francis has emerged, several candidates have been named as possible options.

Observers noted that two cardinals considered among the favorites − Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines, and Pietro Parolin, a Vatican diplomat from Italy − stood together in the basilica as Francis' coffin was laid on a dais Wednesday.

The selection of the 67-year-old Tagle, who goes by the nickname "Chito'' and is often called the "Asian Francis,'' would represent a continuation of Francis' commitment to social justice and expanding the church's influence beyond its strongholds.

"I believe it would be very natural to choose someone from Africa, Asia or in any case from those parts of the world where the church is, in some way, more alive, more dynamic, and with more of a future," Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Parolin, 70, is seen as compromise candidate between the church's progressive and conservative factions, and he also has experience reaching out beyond Europe. He was the main architect of the Vatican's rapprochement with China and Vietnam.

King Charles won't attend funeral − why?

King Charles III had a warm relationship with Francis and was the last head of state to meet him, during a state visit two weeks ago with his wife, Queen Camilla.

But rather than attend Francis' funeral alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the British monarch will send his oldest son and the heir to the throne, Prince William. That's not a snub, just a royal tradition.

The late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles' mother and predecessor, never attended a funeral service for a head of the Roman Catholic Church during her 70-year reign.

Charles did attend a pope's funeral and even delayed his wedding to Camilla in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II, but at that time Charles was a prince, not the king.

− Jay Stahl

Convicted cardinal wants to join conclave

A Sardinian cardinal convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to more than five years in prison says he still has a right to vote on the next pope. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was a high-ranking financial official with the church and member of the pope's inner circle, remains housed at the Vatican pending his court appeal.

Becciu, who denies wrongdoing, is listed by the Vatican as a non-voting member of the College of Cardinals, the group that will gather in a conclave next month to pick Francis' successor.

"The pope has recognized my cardinal prerogatives as intact since there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing," Becciu told the Sardinian newspaper L’Unione Sarda. "The list published by the Press Office has no legal value and should be taken for what it is."

Becciu acknowledged that the pope's opinion of him "changed radically" as a result of the criminal case. But he said that now, in death, Francis can see his innocence.

"Now the pope is in the light of the Risen One," Becciu said. "This certainty comforts me: Now Francis sees the truth of the facts, without doubts and without shadows."

Pope's physician: 'There was nothing more to be done'

Sergio Alfieri, a physician who oversaw the pope's treatment during a five-week hospital stay earlier this year, said he was called at 5:30 a.m. Monday and told Francis was extremely ill. The pope's personal health assistant, Massimiliano Strappetti, suggested Francis needed to be taken to the hospital from his apartment in the Vatican's Santa Marta residences.

"I pre-alerted everyone and 20 minutes later I was there in Santa Marta, but it seemed difficult to think that he needed to be hospitalized," Alfieri told Corriere della Sera newspaper. "I entered his room and his eyes were open. ... He didn't respond to stimuli, not even painful ones. At that moment I understood that there was nothing more to be done. He was in a coma."

Alfieri told Strappetti hospitalization would be useless and that Francis could die in the ambulance. Both men knew the pope wanted to die at home.

"He passed away shortly after. I remained there with Massimiliano (and others)," Alfieri said. "Cardinal Parolin asked us to pray, and we recited the rosary with him. I felt privileged and now I can say that I was."