Video “Goodbye Father, Master and Poet” The day when the believers said goodbye to Pope Francis

A transformed city, suspended between the silence of a collective reverence and the shaking of an impressive mobilization. Rome and the whole world have farewell, on Saturday, from the most beloved leader of the church. In total, 400,000 people were present at the Vatican on the streets of Rome, for the one known as “Pope of the Poor”. Some came from other continents and remembered, for Hotnews, the lessons they will always keep offered by Pope Francis.

Saint Peter Square in the Vatican is dominated by tranquility, although it is full. Without the usual roar of tourists, without traders who seek visual contact, but full of people.

In a silent solidarity, people came to say goodbye to Pope Francis, transforming a Vatican into the capital of a humanity into mourning.

Over 250,000 people were near Saint Peter Square. In total, however, the number of those present in the city amounted to 400,000, as the Italian Interior Minister estimated. A presence reminiscent of that of 2005, when 300,000 people participated in the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The central areas of Rome – Via della Concilizione, Borgo Pio, Lungotevere and to Colosseum – were blocked to the car traffic, and many of the small shops in the historical neighborhoods were covered with canvas or have the shutters drawn. It's a symbolic gesture of respect.

Around the Vatican, the bars and restaurants offered free water and shelter from the insidious Sun of April.

Pope Francis's people

Many of the people came from distant corners of the world to show how much they respect the one who promoted compassion, dialogue and reform in the Catholic Church.

They were standing, under the shadows or spreading on the floor, on the heat heated by the sun. The children stood on the blankets and drew, while the teenagers gathered in groups to play the guitar. There were a lot of groups from confessional schools, religious or scout organizations.

Over 5,000 priests

Further, in front of Saint Peter's basilica, on the chairs, the formal leaders of the world, coming from over 150, were placed – US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, Argentine Javier Milei or Prince Charles.

At 10:00 the Liturgy started. The ceremony was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, along with 220 cardinals, 750 bishops and over 4,000 priests. Without those in the crowd, mixed among the believers.

The crowd broke out in the applause when the wooden coffin of the Pontiff, worn by 14 men with white gloves from the altar of Saint Peter, was put into the market.

Again, they were applause when Cardinal Re spoke about Pope Francis's care for immigrants, his constant calls for peace, about the environment or how important peace is.

“Francis was a pope among people, with a heart open to everyone,” he said. He then spoke about how Pope Francis “constantly begged peace.”

“Confronted with the furious wars of recent years, their inhuman horrors and countless dead and destruction, Pope Francis has constantly raised his voice implining peace,” said Cardinal. He spoke about the peace desired by Pope Francis, while the church he led was, a short time ago, the place where Donald Trump and Volodimir Zelenski again discussed, in front, about the Ukraine war.

It's just part of Pope Francis's legacy. “Pray for me,” Pope Francis told those he met, whether they were state-owned or street people. Today, they listen to his request.

“I fell in love even more when the priests told the priests that he had to smell like sheep ”

“A man full of compassion. A man who held the poor, the marginalized, for those with less privileges, for those on the outskirts of the society and for the disadvantaged,” explains an archbishop from Nigeria to attend ceremonies.

“I fell in love even more about him when he told the priests that he had to smell that sheep are true. In other words, they have closer links with the poor, to know them, to love them, to guide them and to help them,” says a mother from South Africa.

“I admire him for his way of being humble and for his compassion. He loved to be near the poor. In addition, he lived in agreement with his words. Not only he says he loves, but he really lived,” says another man, who came to the Vatican from the Solomon Islands, in the northeast of Australia.

The city and the pope

Pope Francis's death set a series of centuries-old rituals and a meticulously planned logistical and security operation, which has not been seen in Italy since the funeral of John Paul II, over 20 years ago.

Italy has sent over 2,500 police officers and 1,500 soldiers to ensure security during funerals. In addition, armed military ships were stationed off the coast and the battlefields were expected, writes Associated Press. To these were added security agents, carabinieri, volunteers of civil protection and international forces, who guarded each intersection, while helicopters and drones flew the city.

The number of foreign visitors in Italy had already reached a record level, according to CNN. Rome is even fuller than usual this year due to the Vatican jubilee, where more than 32 million pilgrims will be crammed alongside the ordinary visitors, who were 37.3 million last year. To these are added the pilgrims who came especially for the funerals.

The silent crowd began to arouse the city then Pope Francis leaves Saint Peter's Square. The applause and cries “Pope Francesco!” They multiplied on the streets, while the deceased Sovereign Pontiff started on the last journey, aboard a specially adapted papamobil, from the Vatican to his tomb from Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighborhood.

Flanked by police on motorcycles, the vehicle, which was used in one of Francis's travels abroad, crosses the Tiber river in Rome to slowly head on Via Vittorio Emmanuel, passing through Piazza Venezia, Roman and Colosseum forum. Those who could not join them looked at the ceremony on the phones.

But most were on the streets. The funeral road that crosses the city to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is like a highway bordered by the people who came to see for the last time the Pontiff.

On the route of the cortege, large screens were placed so that those who were not near the road could follow the ceremony. Some brought flowers or left written messages on the banners. “Goodbye parent, master and poet”, was written on the banner of some Spaniards.

Many of the pilgrims have long stayed on the small streets around the Vatican. Others took refuge on the side streets of the Cortegiului route. They said the rosaries in small groups, directly on the caldera, they sang religious songs, laughed and applauded again. There were small reverence for the 12 years to pontify.

Simplified Funerals: Pope Francis wishes

Pope Francis wanted his funeral to be simpler than those of his predecessors. Thus, the tradition of exposing the body without a coffin was eliminated and using several different bars. Instead, a wooden coffin was used with zinc, and the funeral took place in a niche in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, near the Romanian Populi Romanian Chapel.

When the cortege arrived in front of the basilica, the Pope receives a last goodbye from a group of 40 people, including prisoners, refugees, transsexuals and homeless, who had been waiting for his arrival on the steps of the fourth century.

Then, the wooden coffin enters the basilica and, although easy to understand, no one can see what is happening. This is the end of the Francis era.

Mourning and conclave

The Vatican rules say that the funeral officially triggers nine days of mourning, known as “Novendals”, in which the services for Pope Francis will take place daily until May 4.

During this period, cardinals from all over the world will arrive in Rome, prepared for Conclav, whose date has not yet been announced. It cannot start earlier than 15 days after the death of the previous pope (which would be May 6).

The day before the conclave, they will be present at a job in St. Peter's Basilica. Then they go to the Sistine chapel and can no longer be seen in public until the pope is choosing.

While the cardinals are hidden from the eyes of people, the crowds gather in St. Peter's Square to pray, hoping to be there when they see white smoke coming out of the Sistine chapel, which means a new pope has been chosen. It is chosen with the majority of two thirds of those present. If the majority does not meet, the vote is resumed.

On the first day of the conclave, there is only one will, in the evening. In the following days, there are four votes: two in the morning, two late afternoon. Twice a day, until the choice of a pope, the ballots are burned. The smoke that comes out of the Sistine chapel comes from these papers.