Some 61,000 people had filed past the late Catholic leader’s red-lined wooden coffin in the first 26 hours since Francis was laid in state at St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning, the Vatican said.
On Thursday morning, the queue quickly stretched far past the two entry points at St Peter’s Square, where spirits were high despite the long wait.
“It’s true that it feels oppressive but at the same time you all feel united, everyone happy,” Frenchwoman Laure Du Moulin who visited with her family, said.
“Everyone seems enthusiastic, fraternal, like a big community.”
Francis died on Monday aged 88, after 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed the most vulnerable and marginalised in society.
His funeral on Saturday is expected to draw huge crowds as well as world leaders, including US President Donald Trump.
The ceremony will be held in front of St Peter’s Basilica.
Lined in red silk, the pope’s wooden coffin has been set before St Peter’s altar, with Francis dressed in his papal vestments – a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes – with a rosary in his hands.
Each mourner was ushered past the casket within seconds, while authorities on Thursday banned the use of smartphones inside the Basilica.
A day earlier the flow of mourners was slower with many people trying to capture photos or videos.
“It was a brief but intense moment next to his body,” Italian Massimo Palo, 63, said after his visit.
“He was a pope amongst his flock, amongst his people, and I hope the next papacies will be a bit like his,” he added.
The coffin is due to be sealed on Friday night in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo who is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected. (AFP)
