France, April 23 -- Pope Francis's body was transported to Saint Peter's Basilica on Wednesday where he will lie in state before his funeral on Saturday.The late Pope's open wooden coffin was carried by pallbearersfor 500 metres from the Casa Santa Marta, where he lived and died.

Red-robed cardinals, priests, friars carryingcandlesand the Vatican's Swiss Guards walked slowly into the vast esplanade as a male choir chanted psalms and prayers in Latin while the great bells of the basilica tolled.

The body of the 88-year-oldArgentine pontiff was held aloft on a wooden platform by 14 white-gloved, black-suited pallbearers.

Pope Francis died two days ago in his rooms at the Santa Marta guesthouse, very near the Basilica, after suffering a s...