VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was thankful that he was able to greet throngs of people in St. Peter’s Square on Easter, a day before he died, though he initially had some doubts given his poor health, Vatican News reported Tuesday.

The Argentine pontiff, who had been recovering after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia, died Monday at age 88. He made his last public appearance Sunday, delivering a blessing and looping around Vatican City’s famous square in his popemobile.

Francis initially had doubts about the ride, Vatican News reported. “Do you think I can manage it?” the pope asked Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant, according to the agency.

The pope was reassured, and he stopped to reach out to people, especially children, as he was driven through the crowd of 50,000 — the first time since his release from the hospital that he had mixed with the faithful at large. Afterward, Francis told Strappetti, “Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” Vatican News said.

The pope showed the first signs of illness around 5:30 a.m. the next day and fell into a coma an hour later, Vatican News reported.

His Easter appearance from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world as the first pope from the Americas on March 13, 2013, was a fitting bookend to a 12-year papacy that sought to shake up the church and return it to its Gospel-mandated mission of caring for the poorest.

Francis’ funeral will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend, and Argentine President Javier Milei is also expected.

He will lie in state starting Wednesday in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff.

According to current norms, the conclave to choose Francis’ successor must begin between May 5 and 10.

“He truly gave everything he had, up to the end,” said Sister Nathalie Becquart, one of the highest ranking women at the Vatican.

While the ordinary faithful will have an opportunity to pay their respects beginning Wednesday, Vatican officials were allowed to say their goodbyes starting Monday evening. Speaking to reporters after she paid her respects, Becquart marveled at Francis’ final Easter salute to his flock. “He really walked with his people,” she said.

Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said it was specifically Francis’ effort to promote the role of women in the church that will be one of his greatest legacies. Ravasi noted that Francis chose to be buried near his favorite icon of the Madonna, in a basilica across town, and not in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s, as is typical for popes.

“He wanted to be buried under the shadow of a woman, in this case Maria,” said Ravasi, the Vatican’s former culture minister as he arrived for Tuesday’s first meeting of cardinals charting the next steps. “That is significant, his desire for the church to do more for women.”

The first images of Francis’ body were released Tuesday, showing him in red vestments and his bishop’s miter in a wooden casket, with the Vatican secretary of state praying over him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where he lived and died.

In his final will, Francis said he wanted to be buried at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to the Salus Populi Romani icon of Mary. Before and after every foreign trip, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jeweled golden book.

The pope’s formal apartments in the Apostolic Palace and in the Santa Marta hotel were sealed Monday evening, following a centuries-old ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo had the task of announcing the death and confirming it once the cause was determined, presided.

Francis chose not to live in the palace, but in a two-room suite in Santa Marta on the other side of Vatican City. He died there and his body was transferred to the hotel chapel in the lobby, where the private viewing was underway Tuesday for Vatican officials and members of the pontifical household.

In changes made by Francis last year, his body was not placed in three wooden coffins, as it had been for previous popes. Rather, Francis was placed in a simplified wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside.

In St. Peter’s, his casket will not be put on an elevated bier — as was the case with past popes — but will just be placed facing the pews, with the Paschal candle nearby.

“He was a pope who didn’t change his path when it came to getting (his hands) dirty,” Francis’ vicar for Rome, Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, said in a Mass in his honor. “For him, poor people and migrants were the sacrament of Jesus.”

After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.” During this period, cardinals arrive in Rome and meet privately before the conclave.

To give everyone time to assemble, the conclave must begin 15 to 20 days after the “sede vacante” — the “vacant See” — is declared, although it can start sooner if the cardinals agree.