UPDATE: |BBC Breakfast star shares important announcement ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral News

BBC Breakfast star Sally Nugent was forced to halt Wednesday’s live show as she shared a breaking news update on Pope Francis

BBC Breakfast presenter Sally Nugent interrupted Wednesday’s (April 23) broadcast to deliver a breaking news update on Pope Francis, following his death aged 88.

The Vatican confirmed that the Pope passed away on Monday morning after he suffered a stroke and irreversible heart failure. His funeral will take place at 10am on Saturday.

During today’s edition of the hit BBC news programme, Sally informed viewers that they were about to witness live footage of the Pope’s casket being transferred to St Peter’s Basilica, where he will lie in state.

“We are going to bring you some live images being sent to us from Vatican City because we are just starting to see the beginnings of the formal process of the several days leading up to the funeral,” she said.

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“This is live from Vatican City this morning as we were expecting the body of Pope Francis to be moved from the chapel where it has been overnight,” Sally continued, before passing the segment to her colleague Sarah Rainsford, who was on location in Rome.

Sarah provided context to the unfolding events, saying: “These are rituals and proceedings that have been set in place over centuries of Catholic practice,” reports the Express.

“The pictures you can see are coming from where the Pope used to live, the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, which is in the Vatican City. There is a liturgy there, prayers from one of the Cardinals who’s leading dozens of other Cardinals who have gathered in the chapel to remember the Pope.”

The Pope’s body was then moved from the chapel, beginning its journey to St Peter’s Basilica. He was carried by pole bearers and escorted, as he was in life, by the Swiss guard.

Bells continued to ring out, with Psalm 115 also being sung by an assembled choir.

Leading the gathered in devotion was Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, who offered blessings with holy water before the movement of the Pope’s coffin.

The Vatican previously disclosed the prayer for today’s solemn event, which read: “Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, we now accompany the mortal remains of our Pope Francis to the Vatican Basilica.

“As we now leave his home, let us thank the Lord for the countless gifts that he bestowed on the Christian people through his servant, Pope Francis.”

It concluded: “Let us ask him, in his mercy and kindness, to grant the late Pope an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven, and to comfort with celestial hope the papal family, the Church in Rome and the faithful throughout the world.”

BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am