The Ecumenical Patriarch will travel to the Vatican this afternoon to attend the funeral service of Pope Francis tomorrow, Saturday, April 26.

Also expected are 50 heads of state, 10 monarchs, and about 130 foreign delegations. According to the latest estimates, at least 450,000 pilgrims will be in Rome for the funeral service, which will be held tomorrow – more than 61,000 faithful have already paid homage to the late Pope Francis, whose skeleton has been placed on a popular pilgrimage in St Peter’s Basilica.

The Pope has been visited by the Holy Father in the Basilica of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

During today’s Divine Liturgy, celebrated at the Holy Church of St. George Poorhouse in Istanbul, His Holiness made reference to Pope Francis, whom he described as a “friend of Orthodoxy.” Specifically, he said, “I wanted to invoke the prayers of all of you for the repose of Pope Francis, who was a friend of Orthodoxy.”

As he informed the congregation, he and his entourage will fly to Rome on Friday afternoon to attend Pope Francis’ funeral service tomorrow on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Their return is scheduled for the evening of the same day. Bartholomew called on the faithful to pray for the repose of his soul.

Addressing the faithful, His Holiness referred to Pope Francis‘ first official visit to the Phanar after his election and enthronement. He also recalled their joint visit to Jerusalem: “We knelt together, side by side, before the Tomb of the Lord and pleaded for the unity of the Christian world and the peace of the universal world.”

He also referred to Pope Francis’ planned visit to Nice, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, which did not come to fruition: “He was going to come to our country in a month to go together to Nice, where the First Ecumenical Council met, to commemorate the memory of the Fathers, to exchange wishes and thoughts on the future of Christianity. All this, of course, was wrecked with his death-or rather postponed,” he noted.

At the same time, His Holiness said he expects Pope Francis’ successor to make the aborted visit to Nice later this year. “I believe that he will come and we will go together to Nice to give a message of unity, love, fraternity, and a common path of the Churches towards the future of Christianity,” he concluded.