St. Peter's Basilica reopens to faithful bidding farewell to pope

Vatican City - St. Peter's Basilica reopened its doors on Thursday, after a brief pause in the early hours of the day, to welcome thousands of worshippers from around the world who want to pay their final respects to Pope Francis.

Almost 50,000 people have flooded the basilica to pay homage to the late pontiff, laid out since Wednesday in an open coffin ahead of his funeral on Saturday, Vatican media said.

Given the size of the crowds, the church, which was initially scheduled to close at midnight, was kept open until 5:30 a.m. (03:30 GMT), before it reopened at 7 a.m.

The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was brought to St. Peter's in a solemn procession on Wednesday.

Francis, a groundbreaking reformer, had an often turbulent 12-year reign in which he repeatedly clashed with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalised.

On Saturday, over 170 delegations including heads of state and government are expected in St. Peter's Square for the funeral ceremony, with millions more watching on television across the globe.

"A chapter in the Church's history has been closed," Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller told Italian daily la Repubblica in an interview published on Thursday.

The German cardinal, known to be a conservative and one of the 133 princes of the church expected to hold a conclave next month to elect the Church's 267th pontiff and successor to Francis, said that there was "unanimous appreciation" for the pope's work on migrants and the poor.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Keith Weir)