Agencies Vatican City

The bells of St Peter's tolled Wednesday as the body of Pope Francis was transferred from the Vatican hotel where he lived to the basilica, escorted by a procession of solemn cardinals and Swiss Guards through the same piazza where he had greeted the faithful from his popemobile just days before in what became his final good-bye.

Pallbearers carried the simple wooden coffin on their shoulders through the Vatican's archway gates, out into St Peter's Square and into the basilica, the cardinals in their scarlet cassocks and the Swiss Guards in their golden and blue uniforms processing slowly behind.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican temporarily until a new pope is elected, led the procession, with clouds of incense preceding him as the church choir began chanting the Litany of Saints hymn. Heads of state are expected for Francis' funeral Saturday, but the three days of public viewing in the basilica will allow ordinary Catholics to grieve the 88-year-old pope, who died Monday after suffering a stroke. 

The basilica was being kept open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to allow the faithful to mourn. The public mourning period will end on Friday at 7 pm, when Francis' casket is closed and sealed. Mourners in the piazza watched as Francis' casket passed them by, along the same path the pope had travelled just days before, on Easter Sunday, in what became his final popemobile tour through the faithful.