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Mendacity in state begins
The ceremony has now concluded, and the three days of mendacity in state will start, with Catholic trustworthy free to pay their closing respects to Pope Francis till midnight after which once more from 7am, up till 7pm on Friday, the night time earlier than the funeral.


Key occasions
Tributes to Pope Francis from world wide

Rachel Obordo
As head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis’s enchantment went far past these inside his congregation. Many appreciated his views on the atmosphere, his requires ending poverty and inequality and for his compassionate strategy to the papacy.
Right here, folks from world wide recall their recollections of the pontiff and pay tribute forward of the conclave to decide on his successor.
Maria Lobão, 50, trainer, Portugal:
The atheist that I’m will miss this good-humoured, smiling, beneficiant, intellectually intelligent and outspoken pope who most popular modesty to glamour and honours. I additionally appreciated his sense of mercy and ecumenical spirit. He transmitted an actual feeling of decency and sincerity. He even loved soccer!
Robert, Poland:
I used to be a volunteer through the 2016 World Youth Day in Kraków. Through the assembly with volunteers, which we waited for the entire week, the pope began studying the textual content that he had ready for us in English.
Maybe due to the vitality and cheerfulness of all of the younger individuals who gathered there, sooner or later he threw his notes within the air and began talking Spanish. After this, many volunteers from Latin America and Latin language nations grew to become ecstatic.
I didn’t perceive Spanish, which made me a little bit disenchanted, however quickly after the glad ambiance was handed on to others too. The pope felt visibly extra spontaneous and comfy, making eye contact and cheering everybody up. It’s a ravishing reminiscence.
Amanda, Suffolk:
I’m a lapsed Catholic and Francis was an inspiration to folks like me. He was ready to face as much as the conservative, unforgiving components of the church and likewise to politicians. His clear love for all people, together with the poorest, was inspiring. He clearly made errors as a result of he was fallible like all people. I believe some progressives anticipated an excessive amount of, making an allowance for the atmosphere during which he was working. His go to to refugees in Lesbos says all the pieces about him.
I really feel I’ve misplaced somebody near me. I want he may have lived for much longer to ship way more wanted change, however we should recognize all the pieces he did and have a good time that. Sadly I believe there can be exterior influences on many cardinals with voting rights, from the US and conservative-minded nations elsewhere, leading to a a lot much less compassionate pope. I actually hope I’m incorrect.
Enesa, 53, lawyer, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:
He was a singular one that impressed Catholics and non-Catholics. I’m a Muslim and Pope Francis was my inspiration.
He’s a task mannequin on how non secular leaders ought to be. Sadly, these days such leaders don’t exist.
Learn all tributes right here:
‘Emotional expertise’ to see Francis, as pilgrims spotlight his humility
Angela Giuffrida
I used to be among the many first group of journalists who have been taken to see the pope mendacity in state. The queue to St Peter’s Basilica is totally large and shifting very slowly, however persons are very affected person.
Seeing Pope Francis was an emotional expertise, however what struck me was the simplicity of his coffin, which is how he had all the time deliberate his funeral to be.
What you see inside St Peter’s Basilica is a quite simple wood casket which is just lined with a chic pink material and the pope is carrying his pink vestments and holding a rosary.
As one Italian pilgrim mentioned to me, one factor that struck her was how youthful he seemed.
She additionally talked about that there have been there a number of younger folks queueing right here at this time and I’d famous that as effectively. She felt that Pope Francis did handle to ring a bell with the younger folks.
We have been as a result of have the canonisation of what would be the Catholic church’s first millennial saint Carlo Acutis on Sunday however that occasion has been suspended for now.
One phrase that that retains coming again once I ask folks what they consider Pope Francis is they speak about his humility.
For most individuals that was most likely a very powerful attribute and one which, no less than based on the folks I’ve been talking to, they hope that the brand new pope may also have.

Jakub Krupa
Let’s go to our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida, who’s on the bottom within the Vatican and simply visited St Peter’s Basilica to see the pope and communicate with pilgrims.
Hundreds of Catholic trustworthy pay their closing respects to Pope Francis – in footage
6.2-magnitude earthquake hits off Istanbul coast
A robust earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 hit the Marmara Sea close to the western outskirts of Istanbul on Wednesday, officers mentioned, with the influence felt throughout Turkey’s largest metropolis the place folks rushed onto the streets, AFP reported.
“An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude occurred in Silivri, Marmara Sea, Istanbul,” inside minister Ali Yerlikaya mentioned on X.
You may get a way of how sturdy the earthquake was on this clip capturing the influence as CNN Turk was on air with a studio chat.
JD Vance warns Russia, Ukraine have to conform to peace or US will stroll away from peace course of
There may be additionally lots taking place at this time on Ukraine, after London peace talks anticipated to happen on ministerial stage have been postponed on the final minute, with conferences downgraded to official stage and closed to media.
Within the final half hour, US vice-president JD Vance warned that Moscow and Kyiv should strike a deal or Washington will finish its efforts to achieve a ceasefire.
“We’ve issued a really specific proposal to each the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to both say sure, or for america to stroll away from this course of,” Vance informed reporters in India, AFP reported.
You possibly can observe all the most recent updates right here:
Apple, Meta fines ‘about enforcement, not commerce negotiations’ with US, fee spokesperson insists
For what it’s value, fee deputy chief spokesperson Arianna Podestà insisted the Apple and Meta selections have been “about enforcement, not about commerce negotiations” with the US.
She mentioned:
“It’s very distinct issues, fully separate.
We’ve got a regulation. We’re making use of the regulation. We apply it, after all, in the identical technique to all corporations right here.
We had a choice within the making that you’ve been asking us about for some time. We’ve got concluded the technical work on these selections. We’ve got mentioned, so, I believe, previous, previously couple of weeks, after which now we have been drafting the choice.
In fact, there are authorized points to be taken under consideration in when drafting a choice, as a result of it needs to be sound from a authorized perspective. When the choice was prepared, we adopted it, and that is the place we stand at this time.”
However she confronted sturdy criticism from journalists for each commissioners accountable for the tremendous not collaborating within the press convention, and leaving it to spokespeople to speak their selections.
“We don’t maintain again selections for communication functions. We have to implement our regulation now,” Podestà replied.
Apple, Meta fined a whole lot of tens of millions of euros for violating EU’s digital rulebook
In different European information elsewhere, the European Fee has simply issued large fines towards US tech giants Apple and Meta for breaching its digital regulation, the Digital Markets Act.
The fee discovered that Apple breached the DMA’s “anti-steering obligation” for builders of apps distributed on App Retailer and has been fined €500m.
Individually, Meta was fined €200m for “breaching the DMA obligation to provide shoppers the selection of a service that makes use of much less of their private information after introducing a Consent or Pay mannequin in 2023.
The complete clarification for each selections is right here.
European Fee government vice-president Teresa Ribera mentioned the selections “ship a powerful and clear message,” fining the businesses for falling wanting compliance with the rulebook.
“Consequently, now we have taken agency however balanced enforcement motion towards each corporations, primarily based on clear and predictable guidelines. All corporations working within the EU should observe our legal guidelines and respect European values,” she mentioned.
However the transfer is prone to set off an offended response from the US, as president Donald Trump repeatedly criticised EU rules and what he perceived as taking goal at US corporations.
Given the already tough EU-US relations on account of Trump’s aggressive commerce coverage, this might see the tensions rise additional.
French lawmaker criticises resolution to fly flags at half mast for Francis

Angelique Chrisafis
Alexis Corbière, a leftwing French MP in Seine-Saint-Denis, has criticised the French authorities’s resolution to fly flags at halfmast on public buildings in France on Saturday on the day of Pope Francis’ funeral.
Corbière mentioned that France was a secular Republic constructed on a transparent separation of church and state, this meant it had an obligation to stay impartial in direction of all religions and never give particular therapy to at least one faith over one other.
He informed France Information he was additionally shocked that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and two French ministers, would attend the pope’s funeral.
He mentioned French secularism shouldn’t be a “variable precept” that modifications based on the faith.
“If tomorrow the Dalai Lama dies, clearly French flags gained’t fly at half mast. Clearly the pinnacle of state wouldn’t go to a funeral in the identical method for a Muslim non secular chief or a Jewish non secular chief.”
In 2005, when Pope John Paul II died, some French politicians additionally cited French secularism to query the federal government’s resolution to fly flags at half mast.
Mendacity in state begins
The ceremony has now concluded, and the three days of mendacity in state will start, with Catholic trustworthy free to pay their closing respects to Pope Francis till midnight after which once more from 7am, up till 7pm on Friday, the night time earlier than the funeral.
Angela Giuffrida
Simply heard from Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, the previous archbishop of Toronto.
Collins was among the many procession. He mentioned: “It was essentially the most profound second. However from the straightforward prayers to the incense, it was no totally different to a funeral that any baptised particular person would have.”
Collins, 78, may also be a part of the conclave to elect the subsequent pope, however declined to provide any trace of who he thought would possibly succeed Francis.
In the meantime, the ceremony inside St Peter’s Basilica is now over, with cardinals lining as much as pay their respects at pope’s coffin first.

Jakub Krupa
I’ll carry you extra updates from Angela in Rome later through the day, as she units off to talk with pilgrims queueing to pay their closing respects to Pope Francis.
Open coffin for procession was surprising
Angela Giuffrida
It’s nonetheless onerous to digest that Pope Francis is now not with us, particularly as just some days in the past, he was sitting on the balcony, waving to the gang through the Easter Sunday mass, and he had been out and about lots within the weeks resulting in his loss of life.
And though we have been anticipating it, as a result of he was getting over a extreme sickness and was very sick, we didn’t anticipate it to occur so quickly.
The overall ambiance is fairly solemn, with hymns being sung in Latin, repeating the decision to “pray for us,” which was all the time the ultimate factor at any time when the pope communicated or mentioned something. He would say, “Please don’t neglect to wish for me.”
There are large crowds within the sq. and folks would have been ready since about 7 am this morning.
As a part of the procession, we noticed dozens of cardinals strolling in entrance, alongside and behind the coffin, flanked by the Swiss guards solemnly lined up outdoors the Basilica.
What was surprising was that the coffin was open. We don’t know who determined that, whether or not the pope made that call himself.
I used to be simply speaking to a Spanish Vatican reporter – Jordi Barcia Antelo, Vatican correspondent for the Spanish nationwide radio, RNE – and he mentioned it was most certainly the pope who made that call and that it was his closing method of exhibiting he was near the folks; he didn’t need to be hidden away. However that’s a shock this morning.
Let’s briefly flip to our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida, watching the ceremony from the rooftop above St Peter’s Sq..
The coffin has now entered St Peter’s Basilica.
Crowds break into applause as coffin strikes throughout St Peter’s Sq.
The crowds gathered in St Peter’s Sq. break into applause, because the coffin with Pope Francis’s physique is carried by means of the sq. on its method into the Basilica.
The procession has simply entered St Peter’s Sq..