Pope Francis’s funerals. Rome, armored (video)
Rome was armored before the arrival of 164 delegates and about 50 heads of state and government who will participate in Pope Francis’s funerals, and numerous streets in the city center will remain closed to pass the coffin to be moved to funeral procession from Saint Petru Basilica to Santa Maggiore Maggiore.
The security plan is imposing: 4,000 law enforcement agents and 4,000 other volunteers of civil protection around San Pietro and other parts of the city, as well as sniper, have been held along the route through which the delegations will pass.
Teams of geniuses, canine units and police officers who also patrol on the Tiber river were held, while the Fire Brigade will carry out units against nuclear, bacteriological, chemical and radiological threats.
In addition, the defense will carry out anti-drone systems, Eurofighter fighter jets and a destroyer off the coast of Fiumicino, and the agents are also equipped with ‘anti-Drone Bazooka’.
Only in the San Pietro area, the health service will have 55 teams, 11 advanced medical stations and 52 ambulances, and the nearby Santo Spirito Hospital, just a few meters from the Vatican, is fully equipped and prepared for any eventuality.
For Francis’s last journey to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, all the streets were closed, and the cars were withdrawn from the surrounding areas, which will also cause significant mobility problems.
In the area around the Vatican, all the access roads have been closed, and the pilgrims are guided to the market, where four large screens will be installed to follow the funeral for those who cannot get there.
Saint Peter Square in the Vatican was open to the public on Saturday morning to allow participation in Pope Francis’s funerals, which are expected to participate about 200,000 people and dozens of authorities, reports EFE.
The main entrance to Via Della Concilizione opened shortly after 6:00 local time (4:00 GMT) and the believers began to enter little by little, controlled, occupying the first places in the public reserved area by the authorities.
The funeral starts at 10:00 local time (8:00 GMT) with the transfer of the coffin inside the Vatican basil, in the highest place at the base of the church.
The funerals are officiated by Cardinal Defan, Giovanni Battista Re, and delegates from over 130 international countries and organizations participate, including about 50 heads of state or government and a dozen in exercise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6mqp91bea
In the first turn will be the delegation of Argentina, Francis’s native country, led by President Javier Milei, as well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
After the market ceremony, the coffin will cross Rome with a funeral cortege to be transferred to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, as he himself ordered in his will.
Pope Francis died on Monday, April 21 at the age of 88.
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