Two Swiss guards watch over Pope Francis’ coffin day and night in the chapel of his private residence. Next to him, a lit candle and at his feet, few flowers and some people who pray for him, only clerics, nuns or Vatican employees, all immersed in a climate of deep respect.

The wake has been arranged in what in his little more than twelve years of reign was his residence, since he did not want to inhabit the Apostolic Palace: the Casa Santa Marta, a simple and more lively building within the Vatican State, next to the apse of the basilica.

The coffin is made of simple wood, and has been installed in his private chapel, located on the ground floor, just as he himself wanted by simplifying what would be his funeral.

The body of the pontiff, who died yesterday Monday at the age of 88 due to a stroke and after months with serious respiratory problems, will be transferred this Wednesday to St. Peter’s Basilica for exhibition before the faithful.

But in the meantime, its burning chapel runs privately, reserved only for members of the Curia, religious or employees of the Holy See who must show their accreditation before crossing the walls of the hermetic Papal State, in the center of Rome.

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Once inside, those who want to say goodbye to the pontiff must wait under this torrid April sun for a gendarme to allow them to access Santa Marta, protected by a strict security protocol.

Then they parade through the corridors of their ground floor, between saints, virgins and some plants, until they reach the chapel, which is entered in small groups.

Inside, several agents of the Vatican police and the Swiss Guard dressed as civilians conscientiously control that no one leaves the line: the sign is of maximum respect and decorum.

But also for security reasons since the first ecclesiastical authorities have already begun to arrive at the residence, several purpured – surely with the mind already in the conclave -, and also politicians, such as the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.

The chapel is a small room with a triangular roof, like a cement hut, supported on a row of four columns and in which, on one side, natural light creeps in, with a narrow gallery of crystals that overlook the Leonine walls.

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Francis rests in the apse of the chapel, under a wooden crucifix and an inscription in golden letters that runs through the triangular ceiling: ‘Veni sancte spiritus reple tuorum corda fidelium’, a prayer: ‘Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of your faithful’.

In the box, lined in red cloth, the pope appears dressed in purple coats, a sign of maximum distinction and dignity, with a white bishop’s mitre on his head and a rosary between his hands.

The coffin is guarded day and night by two Swiss guards with their colorful uniform, metal helmet, red feather and halberd in hand, but also by the faithful of the pope who have arrived at the enclosure.

In the middle of the morning, just after Mattarella’s visit, in the chapel there are about 45 faithful, some sitting in chairs and others standing: there are several archbishops, as indicated by their violet sashes, as well as nuns and other people who nail their knees on the ground to pray deeply, in the midst of a sepulchral silence.

A woman commits the recklessness of taking the phone out of her pocket, but one of the gendarmes who watch everything, with zeal, scolds her and requisitions the device, despite the lady’s reluctance. It’s the only case. The rest pray, meditate or shut up, ignoring the scene.

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Others are just passing through, parade down the corridor, reach the height of the coffin, make the sign of the Cross and bow their heads before the inert body of the pope as a sign of respect.

At his feet, on a carpet, someone has left some branches of white and yellow flowers, the colors of the Vatican flag.

After the prayer, a Vatican employee shows you the exit, quick and direct because Vatican City does not allow walks.

In this chapel, Cardinal Camarlengo, Kevin Joseph Farrell, practiced the rite of the confirmation of the pope’s death, and then sealed his apartments as dictated by the old protocol to prevent the deceased’s documents from being touched.

From Wednesday morning the body of the pontiff will be exposed to the faithful in the Basilica of San Pedro and on Saturday his funeral will take place, before Francis rests forever in a simple crypt of the Roman temple of Santa María La Mayor.

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