St. Peter’s stays open overnight for public viewing of Pope Francis

(NewsNation) — More than 60,000 mourners have paid their respects to Pope Francis, the Vatican said, leading officials to keep doors open at Saint Peter’s Basilica overnight as they prepared for thousands more Thursday.

The basilica closed for just one hour Thursday morning, from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m. local time, for cleaning. Officials expect to close at midnight, barring extraordinary lines like Wednesday’s.

Francis, who died Monday at 88, will lie in state at the basilica until his burial Saturday. The public mourning period will end Friday at 7 p.m. local time.

By late Wednesday, the wait appeared to be three or four hours and growing. A person doing crowd management estimated the wait was closer to five hours. The mourners stretched down the center of Via della Conciliazione, in a lane set aside for Jubilee pilgrims.

Emiliano Fernandez, a Catholic from Mexico, was waiting in line for more than two hours.

“I don’t even care how much time I wait here. It’s just the opportunity to (show) how I admired Francisco in his life,” Fernandez told the Associated Press. “I think because of the respect that I have for him and the great person he was, it’s worth the wait.”

Pope Francis’ funeral: What to know

Francis’ funeral service will be held at 4 a.m. EDT in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

Francis’ burial is expected to be simpler than some other popes’, with the pontiff preferring only one coffin and a more personal final resting place than the Vatican City Grottoes: the Basilica of St. Mary Major, near his favorite Madonna icon.

You can watch the funeral on NewsNation’s cable channel and NewsNation’s site and app. Not sure how to watch NewsNation? Find your channel here.

Who will attend Pope Francis’ funeral?

President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend the funeral, and Argentine President Javier Milei‘s attendance is expected. Prince William will also be among the mourners, according to an announcement from Kensington Palace. The 42-year-old member of Britain’s royal family will attend the Vatican City funeral on behalf of King Charles III, multiple outlets reported.

William, heir to the British throne, has traditionally represented the monarch at funerals, according to Vanity Fair. 

The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said Duda plans to attend the ceremony. Poland has also declared a day of national mourning on Saturday for the funeral.

Reuters has reported the following world leaders will also attend the funeral:

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and first lady Janja Lula de Silva
• French President Emmanuel Macron
• German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz
• Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok
• Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
• Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics
• Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda
• Romania’s interim President Ilie Bolojan
• Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia
• Switzerland’s President Karin Keller-Sutter
• Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
• European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Council President Antonio Costa, Parliament President Roberta Metsola
• East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Bendito Freitas
• Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and Prime Minister Bart De Wever

Vice President JD Vance will not attend, a White House official told NewsNation. Vance visited Francis during a brief meeting on Easter Sunday, the day before the pontiff died.

NewsNation’s Anna Kutz, Ashley N. Soriano, Patrick Djordjevic, Jeff Arnold and the Associated Press contributed to this report.