Bells toll as Pope’s body transferred to St Peter's Basilica

Vatican City: The bells of St Peter's tolled Wednesday as the body of Pope Francis was transferred from the Vatican hotel where he lived to the basilica, escorted by a procession of solemn cardinals and Swiss Guards through the same piazza where he had greeted the faithful from his popemobile just days before in what became his final good-bye.

Pallbearers carried the simple wooden coffin on their shoulders through the Vatican's archway gates, out into St Peter's Square and into the basilica, the cardinals in their scarlet cassocks and the Swiss Guards in their golden and blue uniforms processing slowly behind.