Pope Francis funeral newest: US cardinal accused of mishandling sexual abuse circumstances chosen to shut casket

Mourners have criticised fellow visitors to St Peter’s Basilica for using their phones to take selfies alongside the body of the late Pope as he lies in state.

Janine Venables, a 53-year-old from Pontypridd told the MailOnline: “What did surprise me is the fact that earlier we were told no photos in the Sistine Chapel and here people were getting their phone out and doing selfies with the coffin. I did think that was a bit in poor taste and I’m surprised no one stopped them.”

Another visitor was reported as complaining that people had been “ignoring warnings” and taking photos instead of paying their respects properly, adding that it was “sad to see such disrespectful behaviour”.

The outlet cited a Vatican source as saying: “It would be good if people could try and remember where they are and have a little respect but there’s little else that can be done.”

Since Pope Francis’s death on Easter Monday, leaders from around the world have shared their tributes to the late pontiff, as 1.39 billion Catholics across the globe enter mourning.

Cardinals congregated the following day to establish the date of the funeral ahead of the papal conclave in which a new pope will be selected.

The pontiff had broken from tradition as he requested to be buried outside of Vatican grounds at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.

Steffie Banatvala and Bryony Gooch report:

Pope Francis’s funeral is set to differ from his predecessors, as he requested a simpler affair than the usual pomp.

While his predecessors St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI lay upon an elevated bier, Francis’s body rests inside a simple coffin barely raised from the floor of the basilica.

Francis chose to simplify the “Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff” to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.

The new rites ask that the late pontiff is placed directly into a simple, open wooden coffin lined with zinc, where previous traditions saw a pope entombed in three different coffins – one of cypress wood, one of lead and one of oak.

Typically, the funeral rites are divided into three stations – their home, the Vatican basilica and the burial place.

The late Pope instead requested the first station be a chapel, even though it did form part of his home at the Casa Santa Marta residence.

Francis will also be buried outside the Vatican in Rome’s papal basilica of Saint Mary Major.

A retired US cardinal who has faced accusations of mishandling sexual abuse cases was chosen to help seal Pope Francis’s casket and entomb his remains during the burial rites.

Advocates for Catholic clergy sexual abuse victims are criticising the appointment of Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, for the ceremonial role at the Pope’s funeral. Mahony denies any wrongdoing.

Critics say his involvement sends a harmful message of impunity within Church leadership.