VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders packed St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, “pope among the people” and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader.
Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended, in an outpouring of support for the Argentine pontiff.
More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including U.S. President Donald Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.
The crowds applauded as the pope’s coffin was carried out of the basilica by white gloved pallbearers, accompanied by more than 200 red-robed cardinals, and then again as it was taken back after the approximately two-hour mass.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was “a pope among the people, with an open heart,” who strove for a more compassionate, open-minded Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily.
There was applause again from the masses gathered under bright blue skies as he hailed the pope’s “conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.”
Francis sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy, and his death prompted a global outpouring of emotion.
“I’m touched by how many people are here. It’s beautiful to see all these nationalities together,” said Jeremie Metais, 29, from Grenoble, France.
Italian and Vatican authorities mounted a major security operation for the ceremony, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city-state.
After the funeral, the pope’s simple wooden coffin was put onto a white popemobile for a slow drive through the streets of Rome to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried.