SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In the streets of Rome tonight, the sounds of hymns for Pope Francis...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in non-English language).
DETROW: ...As well as wheely suitcases on cobblestones.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUITCASE ROLLING OVER STONES)
DETROW: Faithful from around the world are pouring into Vatican City to pay their respects to a pope that some called a disruptor and others called a threat to tradition. Tomorrow morning, the pope's body goes on display for the public ahead of his funeral Saturday. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are among those who have confirmed that they will attend the service. NPR's Lauren Frayer joins us now from St. Peter's Square. Hey, Lauren.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: How would you describe the atmosphere?
FRAYER: People are praying, lighting candles. Every once in a while, the crowd behind me sort of erupts into song. There are tourists here from Latin America, Asia, lots of local Italians. I met a woman from Mexico who was supposed to have an audience with the pope today. She'd been on a three-month waiting list for that. Now she's here saying the rosary as a goodbye message to him. There's also a lot of young people here - people who say their faith has been revived or energized by this pope because he did push boundaries, they say, by allowing priests to bless gay couples, for example, you know, saying it was OK for some divorced people to take Communion. Those are things that used to be taboos in the Catholic Church. Here is Katie Kett, a Catholic visiting from Ireland.
KATIE KETT: He's probably gone further than other popes have gone (inaudible). He definitely took steps to include more women in the church, and that would align with my ideals.
FRAYER: Of course, there are others who say this pope took reforms too far, still others who say he didn't go far enough. There is a lot of talk here tonight about whether the next pope will continue some of the reforms that Francis started, maybe allow women to become priests, for example, or whether the Cardinals will choose a traditionalist next.
DETROW: Right, and that is a decision that is up to the College of Cardinals who will be gathering in a conclave to elect the next pope within the next few weeks. Tell us what we know about the plans for that.
FRAYER: Yeah, so some of those wheely suitcases belong to the cardinals. They're on their way into this city, too. The conclave is supposed to begin 15 to 20 days from the pope's death. We still don't have a date for that conclave, but they'll be meeting in the Sistine Chapel just behind me and voting in secret until that famous white smoke signals they have a pope. As far as how it'll go, though, I consulted an expert on conclaves, author Edward Pentin.
EDWARD PENTIN: There's an old Roman saying that a fat pope follows a thin one, which means that the new pope will often be quite different to his predecessor. Pope Francis was a very disruptive pope, and I think there's a strong willingness in the College of Cardinals to bring a certain calmness back to the college.
FRAYER: You know, that's Pentin's hunch after talking to cardinals. Incidentally, he's been part of a project to make a website for and about the cardinals. It's called collegeofcardinalsreport.com, where the cardinals themselves can read each other's bios ahead of meeting, another way that it's sort of a modern conclave for the internet era.
DETROW: That's right, adding the internet to a thousand-year-old procedure.
FRAYER: Yeah.
DETROW: First, though, before we move on to the conclave and the next pope, we will remember Pope Francis' life with a funeral Saturday. What are the plans for that?
FRAYER: There are big video screens being set up in the square in front of me for that. The pope's body is lying in state in an area of the Vatican where he lived. Tomorrow, it'll be moved in a procession here to St. Peter's, where he'll lie in state for three days, and the public can pay their respects. The funeral will be here, as well, but in a break with tradition, the pope will not be buried here in St. Peter's. He's going to be buried outside the Vatican in an immigrant area of the city that he requested in another basilica, where there are past popes buried but not for 350 years or so.
DETROW: That is NPR's Lauren Frayer joining us from St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Thank you so much.
FRAYER: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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