catafalque

Unlike at many such events, people were allowed to move at an unhurried pace, flowing in concentric circles around the casket set atop the same catafalque used in 1865 to hold Abraham Lincoln’s body.

As of Tuesday night, about 135,000 people had filed past the former pope, who has been lying in state without any papal regalia on a catafalque, a raised bier, before the basilica's main altar.

A cardinal dispersed incense around the body, and then — before the basilica doors opened to the public — workers roped off the catafalque, such that the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI would stand apart.

Mr Khan was seen by officers to step off the carpet in the direction of the catafalque, and grab hold of the Royal Standard draped over the coffin, before he was detained and arrested.

With the British public and millions watching across the world having learned the meaning of words like “catafalque,” “cortege” and “crucifer,” the government says the funeral’s cost will be disclosed “in due course.”