The basilica’s doors were only shut for three hours overnight, but the building remained open until Friday morning for the majority of Thursday night into Friday.
Long lines spanned St. Peter’s Square and the nearby streets before being escorted through the basilica’s central altar, where Francis’s open coffin was on a Friday dais.
People were rushing forward slowly, some even waiting for hours to arrive for a brief moment to pay their respects to Francis.
The 88-year-old pope’s body was delivered to St. Peter’s on Wednesday in a somber procession after suffering a stroke on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse.
Around 250, 000 people from all over the world have since said goodbye to the pontiff, according to the Vatican.
According to Patricio Castriota, a visitor who is from Argentina and like the pope, “it’s a very strong feeling (to be here).” “I’m so sorry for this farewell, but I’m so grateful that I got to see him.”
He is the only pope to have come from South America and had many admirable intentions for the Catholic Church, Castriota said. He attempted to clear up some of the bad (some of it), though not entirely.
Francis, who became pope in 2013, was known for his endearing and even humorous demeanor as the first pontiff of the Western Hemisphere.
His 12-year papacy was occasionally turbulent, with Francis attempting to reform a divided institution while battling traditionalists who opposed his numerous reforms.
Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, who is the church’s pastor on the French island of Corsica, said, “He humanized the church, without desacralizing it.”
When St. Peter’s Square was closed just before the viewing period was over, hundreds of disappointed residents were turned away. On Friday, a formal rite to seal the late pope’s coffin was held before 7 p.m. (17:00 GMT).
Hoda Abdel-Hamid, a journalist for Al Jazeera, reported from the Vatican that the cardinals were supposed to attend a private ceremony to complete the coffin.
Twelve coins representing the papacy’s year will be buried inside the coffin. A paper describing his papacy and legacy will also be present, she added.
About 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs were among the at least 130 foreign delegations confirmed their attendance at Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, according to the Vatican.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, will face leaders like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his unanticipated first foreign trip of his second term, which will take him to Rome for the funeral.
At the funeral will be Emmanuel Macron, the former leader of France and former German chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, both of whom have been senior European Union officials.
Source: Aljazeera
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