Pope Francis lying in state Tens of thousands bid farewell

AFP | Vatican City

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

See Tens of thousands of mourners began saying their last goodbyes to Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica Wednesday, as the body of the late Argentine pontiff began three days of lying in state.

By mid-afternoon, the wait to enter St Peter’s Basilica was about three hours, as the long line of pilgrims and tourists wishing to pass by the pontiff’s open coffin circled the vast Baroque square.

“We wanted to say thank you to one of the most humble popes,” said Portuguese medical student Francisca Antunes, 21, after leaving the basilica with a friend.

“It felt really good to be in there,” she told AFP.

Roman pensioner Simonetta Marini, 67, said the crowds attested to widespread admiration for Francis, whose human touch and defence of the world’s underdogs helped steer the Catholic Church towards a more inclusive, compassionate path.

“I came to say a last goodbye to a great man. He stood for the people,” Marini said.

Francis, an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires who took over as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in 2013, died on Monday aged 88, after suffering a stroke.

His death came nearly a month after he was released from hospital where he spent five weeks being treated for pneumonia.

Dressed in his papal vestments -- a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes -- and with a rosary laced between his fingers, the pope’s body has been laid out in a red-lined wooden coffin.

For the next three days, it will rest on a low bier before the Altar of the Confession underneath the soaring dome painted by Michelangelo, before being closed at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday evening ahead of Saturday’s funeral.

Vincenza Nocilla, a 67-year-old retired nurse, left her home in Formia, south of Rome, at 4:00 am to be among the first to see the pontiff.

She said it was “really moving” but noted, however, that “they don’t let you stay long, you walk by, say a quick goodbye and go”.

A retired Irish couple said it was a “priority” to come see Francis while on holiday in Rome, and hailed his efforts to tackle clerical sexual abuse.