VATICAN MOURNS AS POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL BEGINS AT ST. PETER’S

Sat 26 April 2025:

The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, has gotten under way at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful have packed the site to bid farewell to the pontiff.

World leaders began arriving in Rome on Friday before Pope Francis’s weekend burial, a ceremony that, although more low-key than usual, is still set to be a historic event.

Pope Francis, who died on Monday from heart failure following a stroke at the age of 88, was widely popular for what many saw as his humility and compassion for marginalised people.

The passing of a pope represents a momentous shift for the Catholic Church, and burial rites and the eventual selection of a new papal leader are all usually elaborate affairs. However, the late Pope Francis had asked for a simpler funeral: His body will be buried in a simple coffin made of wood and lowered into an unmarked tomb.

Still, the funeral roll call, which features 170 foreign dignitaries, including dozens of heads of state, will make the event an extraordinary political gathering. Since not all the attendees see eye to eye, there’s also likely to be a dash of diplomatic awkwardness.

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At least 250,000 mourners expected: Vatican

The Vatican says some 250,000 mourners will fill the vast, cobbled esplanade and main access route to the basilica in order to follow the ceremony, which will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a 91-year-old Italian prelate.

Mourners could be seen hurrying towards the Vatican earlier this morning. Some had camped out overnight to try and secure spots at the front of the crowd for the funeral.

“We have been waiting all night,” Spanish pilgrim Maria Fierro told Reuters. “Accompanying [Francis] in his last moments is very emotional.”

James Mary, a Franciscan nun, also waited overnight. “I was up the whole night,” she told the news agency. “We want to say goodbye because he [was a] living saint, very humble and simple.”

Papal funeral being held under tight security

Authorities have heightened security measures ahead of the funeral, including by using surveillance drones and deploying snipers around St Peter’s Square.

Some 2,000 local police officers are on duty, joined by thousands more officers from the national security forces.

Security measures will include patrols on the Tiber River.

“The most complex aspect is the arrival of many dignitaries from all over the world, who will converge on Rome to go to a single point,” Rome’s police chief, Roberto Massucci, told RTL 102.5 radio on Thursday.

An atmosphere of anticipation

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull reporting from Vatican City, Vatican

The atmosphere right now is one of anticipation and probably quite heavy excitement. The focus of the world now is drawn to the Vatican, drawn to Rome.

The crowds are moving into St Peter’s Square – all of the access ways to the square are choked with people trying to get ahead, to get into the square, hoping to be able to watch this service.

They won’t all manage it. Some 200,000 are expected to be able to make it in.

At the wings, there will be those delegations of VIPs, world leaders and monarchs. They’re not taking their seats just yet, but we’re seeing the cardinals taking their seats. And luckily, the weather is good.

When the service ends here in a couple of hours, after it begins at 10am, there will be a 30-minute procession through the streets of Rome.

Pope Francis will be the first pope in over a century not to be buried inside St Peter’s; he has chosen instead to be buried in another basilica across Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal basilicas in Rome, close to an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary, to whom, in his will, he dedicated his life.

So there will be thousands of people lining the route on the way to Santa Maria Maggiore, as well.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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