Pope Francis’ wooden coffin will be sealed on Friday night, in a private rite that officially ends three days of his body lying in state at the Vatican.

As the Vatican prepares to end viewings at St Peter's Basilica at 19:00 local time (18:00 BST), the BBC has spoken to the last person in the queue to pay their respects to Pope Francis. Father Ramez Twal from Jersualem tells Outside Source: "It's amazing that we as a group from the Holy Land get to say the last goodbye for our late Pope Francis."

Thousands gather in Vatican City to pay final respects to Pope Francis

Pope Francis will be remembered for elevating women to positions of power within the Catholic Church. Vatican author, historian and guide Elizabeth Lev joins Chris Jansing at the Vatican to reflect on the changes the Pope made.

The papacy of Pope Francis ended with the same core doctrine for LGBTQ+ people that he inherited: The Catholic Church still rejected same-sex marriage and condemned any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.