A long queue of pilgrims queued to enter St. Peter's Square in Rome on Wednesday, April 23,  as the coffin carrying the body of Pope Francis was brought to St. Peter's Basilica.

Security was tight, with security checkpoints set up at entrance gates. Some people on the queue held flags or read books about Pope Francis as they waited.

Some, like Stefania from Germany, were in the queue as early as 4 a.m. (0200 GMT). “It’s very important to say goodbye to him,” she said.

Rachel and John McKay from the UK, came to the Vatican on a parish pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year.

"We were meant to have an audience with him today, and we will do, but not in the way that we expected," John McKay said.

Francis, a groundbreaking reformer, died aged 88 on Monday, April 21, from a stroke and cardiac arrest, ending an often turbulent 12-year reign in which he repeatedly clashed with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalised.

The pontiff spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year suffering from double pneumonia and had appeared to be slowly recovering, but the Vatican on Tuesday recounted his last moments, saying death came quickly and he had not suffered.

His body, lying in an open casket, was taken from the chapel of the Vatican residence where he lived to St Peter's, entering through the central door, in a grand procession which started at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT), with cardinals and Latin chants.

After a religious service, the faithful and the general public will be allowed to visit the late pontiff until 7 p.m. on Friday (April 25), with a funeral scheduled for the next morning.

(Production: Christine Uyanik, Yesim Dikmen, Shung Sin Tan, Gabriele Pileri, Roberto Mignucci, Malgorzata Wojtunik)