Vatican keeps St. Peter’s open all night for public viewing of Pope Francis due to strong turnout

The Vatican City – Many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in the state in a simple wooden coffin inside the Church of St. Peter to the point that the Vatican kept the doors open all night because of a higher demand than expected, with a church closing for an hour only on Thursday for cleaning.

Basilica is shower in silent silence where mourners from all over the world make a slow procession, and the main corridor to push their recent respect is mixed with Francis, who died on Monday after suffering a stroke.

The watches that he spent lined with luxury through the Concillazione through St. Peter’s Square and crossed the Holy Gate to the Basilica for the mosques to find a society about the Argentine heritage in the integration and modest personality.

Emiliano Fernandez, a Catholic from Mexico, was waiting at midnight, and after two hours it did not reach a church.

Watch “Francis celebration: Popular Pope”, starting from Saturday at 3:30 am Each time / 12:30 am on ABC.

“I don’t care even the amount of time I am waiting for here,” said Fernandez, who was worth waiting. It is just an opportunity to show how I admired Francisco in his life.

The recent figures issued by the Vatican said that more than 50,000 people paid their respect during the first 12 hours of public viewing, starting at 11 am on Wednesday. The basilica was closed for only one hour on Thursday morning, from 6 am to 7 am, the planned opening time.

Among the mourners on the first day, there was a group of 14 -year -old church from Milan, who arrived at the wicked saint in the first millennium, as well as a woman who prayed to the Pope for a successful operation and an Italian family who brought her young children to see the Pope’s body.

“We came because we did not attend them when he was alive, so we thought we would attend them for a final farewell,” said Rosa Scorpati, who was leaving the basilica on Wednesday with her three children in children’s carts.

Like many others, the Calabria Scorpati family in Rome was on the Easter holiday, just for the news of Francis’s death on Easter on Monday.

Related to: What will happen next and what is papal ice?

Pontifical milk collects in the Vatican and follows the traditions of pods.

Movement of dedication to the Pope and the message of its inclusion, the sad believers joined the procession of the mourners who came from the Saint Peter Square through the Bible Babica, with their repentance among them won a test, which is a form of atonement granted during the Holy Year of Jubilee. From there, the line extended below the central corridor in Basilica to the simple wooden shell of the Pope.

By late Wednesday, waiting for three or four hours seemed to be growing. A person managed to manage the crowd that the waiting was closer to five hours. The mourners extended to the bottom of the Via Della Conciliazione Center, in the customer of the jubilee.

Three days after public viewing, a funeral mass, including heads of state, will be held on Saturday in Saint Peter Square. Then the Pope will be buried in a place inside Saint Mary Megone, near the favorite Madonna icon.

The 88 -year -old Francis was crowned on the occasion of 12 -year -old with his concern for the poor and the message of inclusion, but he was criticized by some conservatives who felt isolated from his gradual outlook.

A procession of priests, bishops, and crushers was accompanied by Francis’s body on Wednesday on her journey from a special show inside the Vatican to Saint Peter Square. The competition contradicts the human interactions of the ranks in the rank and the file in public viewing.

Francis is located in the state in an open coffin, floating on two slopes on a slope, with four Swiss guards standing attention. When the crowd reached the coffin, many raised their smartphones to take a picture.

A nun accompanying an elderly woman with cane moved away, “The Pope has gone.”

the pictures: Pope Francis over the years

Pope Francis dies with his arrival to his weekly public audience in the Paul VI Hall, in the Vatican, on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.

AP photo/alessandra tarantino

This despair was rare. The mood was more grateful to the Pope, for example, many people learned to open their minds.

“I have been devoted to the Pope,” said Evis Bianco, who was in Rome from Brendisi, Italy.

Humbeline Coroy came to Rome from Perpigenan, France, for its sanctification on Sunday for the 15 -year -old Carlo Actis, which was suspended after the death of the Pope. I remained to pay respect for Francis, and enjoy exchanges with the Japanese mourners who met them waiting under the sun in the Saint Peter Square.

“For me, it’s a lot of things. In my job, I work with disabled children, and I traveled to Madagascar to work with the poor. To be here, and close to the Pope, is a way to integrate these experiences, and make them tangible, Coroui also brought a prayer for her father, who offends cancer.

Related to: Remember Pope Francis’s visit to the United States

For Alexandra Nardi, the died of the Pope re -died three years before her beloved uncle Luigi, who used to contact her from St. Peter’s Square when he came to see Pope Francis says a mass.

Ricardo Oujidia of Colombia said his experience in waiting for a two -hour queue to pay the Pope showed him the extent of “the people who loves the Pope.”

He said, “He left a very important legacy for everyone, to make this world happier,” he said.

Copyright © 2025 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment