Pope Francis's funeral, taking place Saturday, is expected to be a historic event attracting over 200,000 attendees and featuring heightened security measures. With leaders from around the world, including Donald Trump, attending, Rome is preparing extensively, blocking off roads and installing screens for overflow crowds. Following the service, his coffin will be transported to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, marking the first burial of a pope outside the Vatican in over a century. This event is set to be the largest since Pope John Paul II's funeral 20 years ago.
"It is an activity, as you have seen in recent days, that is particularly complex," said Fabio Ciciliano, the head of Italy's civil protection service.
Francis's funeral is likely to be the largest single-day event at the Vatican in 20 years, since the funeral of John Paul II.
Authorities are expecting at least 200,000 people - a crowd that would spill out of the colonnaded piazza of the tiny city-state and flow into the streets of Rome.
He will be the first pope in more than a century to be buried outside the Vatican's ancient walls.
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