The Vatican announced on Tuesday that the funeral ceremonies for the Pontiff will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10 a.m. (8 a.m. in Maputo) in St. Peter's Square.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, Francis' body will be taken to St. Peter's Basilica, in the center of Rome, where the Pope will be buried, according to the same press release quoted by the international press.

The ceremony, which is expected to be attended by heads of state from all over the world, will be celebrated by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.

Today, after a prayer led by Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, the body will be transferred.

The procession will pass through Santa Marta Square, Roman Martyrs Square, the Arch of the Bells and then enter the Vatican Basilica through the central door.

Then, according to the press release, at the Altar of Confession, under the baldachin (canopy placed on the altar), Cardinal Camerlengo - who is responsible for the administration of Vatican property until a new Pope is chosen - will preside at the Liturgy of the Word, at the end of which the visit of the faithful will begin.

It is not yet known how long the body of Pope Francis, who introduced some changes to the rules governing the funerals of pontiffs, will remain on display.

The Pope's body was placed in a wooden coffin with a zinc interior.

The papal ferule (crucifix-shaped staff) will be placed next to the coffin.

On Saturday, after the funeral, the coffin will be immediately transferred to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, as Francis has written.

"I ask that my tomb be prepared in the niche of the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica," the will states.

The tomb, wrote the Argentine Pope, should be in the ground; simple, without any particular decoration and with the only inscription: "Franciscus".