Crowds were cleared from St Peter's Square on Friday evening (April 25) as workers prepared the area for the funeral of Pope Francis, Reuters reports.
Hours earlier, more than 100,000 mourners had filed into St. Peter's Basilica to pay their respects the Pope, viewing his open coffin in the final visiting hours ahead of his funeral on Saturday (April 26).
Emergency workers including police officers and medical responders could be seen patrolling the square, with some church officials watching on in front of St Peter's Basilica.
The 88-year-old pope, who had led the Church since 2013, died on Monday (April 21) in his rooms at the Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke as he was recuperating from weeks of pneumonia.
The Vatican said on Friday it is expecting 160 foreign delegations to attend Saturday's funeral, among them dozens of world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.
