Additional Coverage:
Vatican City — Thousands of mourners paid their respects to Pope Francis at his newly opened tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Sunday.
The Vatican released photos of the tomb earlier in the day. Over 13,000 people visited the basilica, with thousands more waiting outside, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
All of Rome’s cardinals are expected to visit the tomb Sunday afternoon, passing through the Holy Door and then proceeding to the chapel housing the Salus Populi Romani, a Byzantine-style icon of the Virgin Mary. Pope Francis reportedly prayed before this icon before and after every foreign trip during his 12-year papacy.
The late pontiff, who died last Monday at age 88, was laid to rest Saturday in the basilica, marking the first papal burial outside the Vatican in over a century and the first at St. Mary Major in over three centuries.