So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican only closed the basilica for an hour on Thursday morning for cleaning due to a higher than anticipated attendance. The basilica is bathed in a hushed silence as mourners from across the globe make a slow, shuffling procession up the main aisle to pay their last respects to Francis, who died Monday after a stroke.
The hours spent on line up the stately via della Conciliazione through St. Peter’s Square and through the Holy Door into the basilica has allowed mourners to find community around the Argentine pontiff’s legacy of inclusion and humble persona.
Emiliano Fernandez, a Catholic from Mexico, was waiting in line around midnight, and after two hours still had not reached the basilica.“ I don’t even care how much time I wait here. It’s just the opportunity to (show) how I admired Francisco in his life,” said Fernandez, whose admiration for the pope grew during his 2016 visit to Mexico. “I think because of the respect that I have for him and the great person he was, it’s worth the wait.”
The last numbers released by the Vatican said more than 50,000 people had paid their respects during the first 12 hours of the public viewing , starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday. A church group of 14-year-olds from near Milan who arrived for the now-suspended canonization of the first millennial saint, as well as a woman who prayed to the pope for a successful operation and an Italian family who brought their small children to see the pope’s body, were among the first-day mourners. The basilica closed for just one hour on Thursday morning, from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m., the planned opening time. Rosa Scorpati, who was escorting her three young children in strollers out of the basilica on Wednesday, said, “We came because we didn’t bring them when he was alive, so we thought we would bring them for a final farewell.” “They were good, but I don’t think they really understood because they haven’t dealt with death yet,” “They were good.” Like many others, the Scorpati family from Calabria was in Rome on an Easter vacation, only to be met with the news of Francis’ death on Easter Monday.Out of devotion to the pope and his message of inclusion, the grieving faithful joined the procession of mourners that wended from St. Through the Holy Door of the basilica, the repentant among them gained an indulgence, a form of atonement granted during the Jubilee Holy Year. Peter’s Square From there, the line extended down the basilica’s central aisle to the pope’s simple wooden casket.
By late Wednesday, the wait appeared to be three or four hours and growing. A person doing crowd management estimated that the wait was closer to five hours. In a lane designated for Jubilee pilgrims, the mourners stretched down the middle of Via della Conciliazione. A funeral Mass for the deceased, attended by heads of state, will be celebrated on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square. After that, the pope will be buried inside the St. Mary Major Basilica, near his favorite Madonna icon.The death of Francis, who was 88, capped a 12-year pontificate characterized by his concern for the poor and his message of inclusion, but he was also criticized by some conservatives who felt alienated by his progressive outlook.
A procession of priests, bishops and cardinals accompanied Francis’ body Wednesday on its journey from a private viewing inside the Vatican to St. Peter’s Place. The public viewing’s human interactions with rank-and-file mourners contrasted with the pageantry. Francis lay in state in an open casket, perched on a ramp facing mourners, with four Swiss Guards standing at attention. Many people reached for their smartphones to take a picture as they approached the casket. “My pope is gone,” sobbed one nun accompanying an elderly woman with a cane as she left.
Pope Francis’s public viewing turnout keeps St. Peter’s open all night
