Heads of state and royalty have started converging on Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square, but the group of poor people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.

US President Donald Trump and his Argentinian counterpart Javier Milei are among the leaders arriving on Friday, the last day Argentine pope will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica before his coffin is sealed in the evening in preparation for his funeral Saturday.

The Vatican said 130 delegations are confirmed, including 50 heads of state and 10 reigning sovereigns.

Tens of thousands of mourners have waited hours in line to bid farewell to Francis, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88. A higher-than-expected turnout prompted the Vatican to extend the basilica's opening hours overnight.

By Thursday evening, more than 90,000 mourners had filed past Francis' open coffin placed in front of the basilica’s main altar –at times praying, at times holding smart phones aloft for a photo of the late pontiff laid out in red robes, a bishop's pointed miter and a rosary entwined in his hands.

St Peter's Basilica remained open until around 3 am on Friday and closed for just a few hours before reopening for mourners who started arriving before dawn. The public viewing is scheduled to end at 7pm, after which Francis simple wooden coffin will be sealed.

Emanuela Bisco took the day off work to pay her last respects to Francis, as she had 20 years ago for St John Paul II.

Francis “was the pope of the forgotten, who was close to the simplest people, the homeless who were not pushed away,’’ she said. “I hope that the next pope will be at his level, and continue his struggles, his openness, everything that he did.”
The work of the conclave to choose a new pope won’t start until at least May 5, after nine days of public mourning.

Cardinals have been also been arriving in Rome, with 113 meeting early on Thursday to discuss church business. They are meeting again on Friday before taking a break for the weekend.

“We are getting ready, but we still have not entered into the more intense phase. We are in the organizational phase,'' Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni said.

In keeping with Francis’ embrace of the marginalized, the Vatican said a group of poor and needy people will meet the pope’s coffin to pay homage to him when it arrives at St Mary Major basilica for burial on Saturday.

The tomb is being prepared behind a wooden barrier within the basilica that he chose to be near an icon of the Madonna that he revered and often prayed before.

Photos released by the Vatican on Friday show the marble tombstone flat against the pavement, with the simple engraving in Latin that he requested in his last testament: “Franciscus”. (AP)