Thousands of people gathered Thursday for a glimpse of Pope Francis's body on the second day of public tributes, after St Peter's Basilica stayed open almost all night to accomodate the crowds.

With waiting times reaching four hours to enter the basilica, some 48,600 people had already filtered past the Catholic leader's red-lined wooden coffin by Thursday morning, the Vatican announced.

The lying in state began on Wednesday and instead of a planned closing at midnight, the basilica remained open until 5:30am (0330 GMT) on Thursday morning, before reopening at 7:00am.

The queue to get in on Thursday morning stretched long past the two entry points at St Peter's Square, where 82-year-old Amerigo Iacovacci was waiting patiently.

"I'm here because of the great faith that unites me with Pope Francis," said the Roman.

"He was a great man, he was the father of the least fortunate, of the invisible."

Francis died on Monday after 12 years as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, during which time he made a name for himself as a pope of the marginalised.

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