Sri Lanka, April 22 -- The funeral of Pope Francis will be held on Saturday, 27 April, the Vatican has announced.

The Argentine pontiff, 88, died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.

His funeral, which is expected to draw huge crowds, will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday in the square in front of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Francis's coffin -- which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc -- will then be taken inside the church and from there to the Rome basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial.

The date was set by the first so-called "general congregation" of cardinals this morning, which kicked off a centuries-old process that ...