• Funeral of Pope Francis begins: Around 200,000 people descended on St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said, to mark the death of Pope Francis – the first Latin American pontiff. The funeral began Saturday with an elaborate set of rituals at the square, six days after where Francis made his final public appearance for Easter.

• Who’s at the Vatican? Among those are 130 delegations, including world leaders and reigning monarchs. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump met ahead of the funeral, the Ukrainian presidency says.

• ‘Pope among the people’: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, one of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church, is conducting the service. The 91-year-old honored Francis’ ability to lead with “an open heart towards everyone” in his sermon, describing him as a “pope among the people.”

• Francis’ final resting place: Following a “simplified” ceremony in the Vatican, Francis’ body will be taken over the River Tiber to be buried in a tomb in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

Zelensky and Trump held meeting before Pope Francis’ funeral

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump held talks before Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, the first time the two men have met face-to-face since their explosive encounter in the Oval Office.

White House communications director Steven Cheung said the two “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.”

“More details about the meeting will follow.”

The talks come at a crucial time for the war in Ukraine – the US has been threatening to abandon its efforts to broker peace and Trump blasted Zelensky this week for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian control of Crimea.

But after fresh talks between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s Ukraine envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”

This post has been updated to add comment from the White House.

Liturgy of the Eucharist begins

The cardinals are preparing for the central and most solemn part of this morning’s service: the eucharist.

Cardinal Re has just censed the altar, and is beginning the Eucharistic Prayer – in which the celebrant offers the faithful to the service of God and presides over the consecration of the bread and wine.

The choir will soon sing the Sanctus, and once the Eucharistic Prayer is complete, everyone chants the Lord’s Prayer together.

Security measures limiting crowds inside St. Peter’s Square

While the crowd inside St. Peter’s Square isn’t completely packed, it’s not for lack of turnout.

Authorities have limited the number of people allowed into the square, with many mourners gathered behind barriers at the edges.

A wide security corridor has also been established on the border of the Vatican and Piazza Pio XII to allow for authorities to move through.

Prayer of the Faithful delivered partly in Mandarin – a first for papal funerals

Cardinal Re has delivered the Prayer of the Faithful, also called the Universal Prayer.

What followed marked a departure from previous papal funerals. Cardinals delivered a short prayer in six languages: Italian, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, German – and Mandarin.

It was the first time that Mandarin had been included in a papal funeral.

“For us gathered here, that having celebrated the sacred mysteries, we may one day be called by Christ to enter his glorious kingdom,” read Cardinal Agostino Liu Bo.

During his papacy, Francis voiced his desire to visit China, and the Vatican has in recent years attempted to smooth its relationship with Beijing.

Unable to visit China, Francis instead visited Mongolia in 2023, where he met Chinese Catholics and bishops. In another overture, Pope Francis in 2022 appointed Giorgio Marengo as the first Mongolian cardinal.

Cardinal Marengo will be among those who will appoint Francis’ successor in the conclave, which will begin in the days after today’s funeral.

CNN