(BSS) - Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today paid tribute to late Pope Francis at Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.

The mortal remains of Pope Francis were lying in state there ahead of Saturday’s funeral.

His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City, offered an official greeting to the Chief Adviser and the Bangladesh delegation at St. Peter Square.

On Saturday, around 9:30 am, Prof Yunus will again visit St. Peter Square to join the Funeral Mass of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Late Pope Francis was the big admirer of the Prof Yunus’s work for the marginalised people across the globe and his vision for a `Three Zero World` where there will be no unemployment, no poverty and zero carbon emission.

The Vatican also launched a joint Three Zero Initiative in Rome with the 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate, Chief Adviser`s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder told BSS.

Chief Adviser Prof Yunus arrived in Rome this afternoon to attend the funeral of His Holiness Pope Francis.

He reached Rome at about 2:15 pm (Italy time), where he was received by the Bangladesh Ambassador to Italy and the Bangladesh Ambassador to Vatican City.

Earlier in the day, Prof Yunus left Qatar for the Vatican City around 9:25 am (12:25 pm Bangladesh Standard Time) to pay his last respect to his old friend, Pope Francis.

The Chief of Protocol of the State of Qatar, Ibrahim bin Yousif Abdullah Fakhroo, saw him off at Hamad International Airport in Doha.

After joining the funeral of Pope Francis, Chief Adviser Prof Yunus will depart the Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport around 8:00 am (12:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time) on Sunday and is expected to reach home in the early hours on Monday.