THE VATICAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s Culture Minister Abbas Salehi has paid respect to the late leader of the Catholic Church at St. Peter’s Basilica.  
Salehi traveled to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on behalf of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In a message, Pezeshkian offered condolences to the world’s Christians on the passing of Pope Francis and highlighted his efforts to promote peace, justice, dialogue and peaceful coexistence among religions.
The Iranian president also praised the Pope’s humanitarian stances and his condemnation of the Israeli regime’s crimes in Gaza, saying his memory will remain alive in the minds of freedom-seekers of the world.
The 88-year-old pope, who had led the Church since 2013, died on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke as he was recuperating from weeks of pneumonia.
Thousands of people from all over the world lined up to say farewell after his body was brought to St. Peter’s on Wednesday to lie in state, the Vatican said.