Time-honored rituals, drafted and refined over centuries, allow for ritual mourning and provide order at a dramatic moment of transition.

The Vatican says Pope Francis remains in critical condition but has showed slight improvement in laboratory tests.

Built on land donated by Pope Pius XI to the theologian and physician Agostino Gemelli in 1934, it has become known as the "Pope's Hospital." John Paul II even nicknamed it "Vatican Three," with St Peter's Square being Vatican One, and the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, Vatican Two.