Billy Graham to lie in U.S. Capitol before funeral

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- World-renowned evangelist Billy Graham will lie in the U.S. Capitol for two days before his formal funeral next week.

Graham, known as "America's Pastor," died Wednesday at age 99.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Graham's son, Franklin, in a letter to allow people to pay their respects to the celebrated evangelist.

Graham's viewing in the rotunda will occur Feb. 28 and March 1. He is the first to lie in honor at the Capitol since civil rights icon Rosa Parks in 2005.

His body was transported from his home in Montreat, N.C., to an Asheville funeral home. On Saturday, he will be moved from the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, where there will be an arrival ceremony.

Graham will lie in repose inside the Graham Family Homeplace on the Billy Graham Library grounds on Monday and Tuesday. His casket will remain closed. Viewing will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day.

A private funeral service is scheduled for March 2. Some 2,300 invitations will go out. The evangelist will be buried beside his wife, Ruth McCue Bell, at the foot of the cross-shaped brick walkway in the Prayer Garden on the library grounds.

Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said invitations to Graham's funeral will link be extended to President Donald Trump and other former U.S. presidents, with whom Graham often consulted.

"It was Mr. Graham's explicit intent his funeral service reflect and reinforce the gospel message he preached for more than 60 years," DeMoss said at a news conference. "He personally approved the planning and details of this service some years ago."

Graham had suffered from symptoms of Parkinson's disease and had been losing strength, hearing and eyesight, DeMoss said.

"He was not, in recent times certainly, was not taking phone calls and entertaining guests other than family members," he said. "It has been quite quiet in recent months and the last couple of years really."

Many political and religious leaders expressed their condolences Wednesday for Graham, including Trump and former President Barack Obama.