VATICAN CITY, Holy See (AFP)— With royals, presidents and hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful heading to Rome following Pope Francis’s death, Italy and the Vatican are rolling out a massive security plan.

Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday and cardinals have already begun arriving from around the world for both the ceremony and the conclave — the secret voting process to elect a new pope.

The Argentine’s body is meanwhile lying in state in St Peter’s Basilica, drawing tens of thousands of mourners.

“We’ve been on alert since Monday,” when the 88-year-old Francis died, said a member of the Swiss Guard, the army responsible for the pope’s security, famed for their colourful striped uniforms.

“And the next few days are going to be very difficult,” the guard, who wanted to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Tourists already faced with numerous construction sites in the Italian capital and famously poor public transportation now find themselves at the heart of a lockdown set to last several weeks.

Fighter jets are on stand-by and special police sniper units are deployed on the rooftops of buildings along the Via della Conciliazione, the vast avenue which leads to St. Peter’s Square.

A 24-hour no-fly zone over Rome is already in place.

The political VIP line-up for the funeral includes US President Donald Trump, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Argentina’s Javier Milei.

The kings of Belgium and Spain will be present, as will Britain’s Prince William.

In all, between 150 and 170 delegations are expected — and all will need a police escort.

– ‘Very strict controls’ –
For the funeral of John Paul II in April 2005, more than 10,000 law enforcement officers were deployed in the Eternal City, which hosted around 200 delegations.

As Francis’s body was laid in state, Italian police set up checkpoints around the Vatican.

“The entire St. Peter’s area, and not only that, will be subject to very strict controls,” warned Rome’s Prefect Lamberto Giannini.

Police helicopters buzz incessantly above Rome’s historic centre and the approach to the Vatican.

Pilgrims entering St Peter’s have to go through airport-style security checks, placing their belongings in X-ray scanners while police carry out spot checks of backpacks in the area.

One officer told AFP that “a few hundred police officers are on duty around the site”.

Italy’s Civil Protection agency is deploying between 2,000 and 2,500 volunteers to supervise the faithful entering St. Peter’s Square to pay their last respects or attend Francis’s funeral.

Some 500 doctors and nurses from the civil protection and regional health service will be present, with ambulances on standby, the agency’s spokesperson Pierfrancesco Demilito told AFP.

“It is impossible to know” how many people will be present on the day of the funeral, as many faithful could come and go, but “a few hundred thousand at least” are expected, he said.

They are ready to “increase the number of volunteers if necessary”, he added.

Benedict XVI’s funeral in 2023 drew around 200,000 people but this is a special Catholic year — a holy Jubilee year — so at least 250,000 faithful are expected to turn out for Francis.