Mourners stood in line for hours on Thursday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose body is lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his funeral on Saturday. Huge queues snaked around St.

So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning.