Crowds have filled St Peter’s Square in the Vatican since the pope’s death was announced on Monday, and the entire city-state is abuzz with activity.
Many visitors have viewed Pope Francis’s body, which has been lying in state since Wednesday, while others appear content to take a selfie in front of the towering Tuscan colonnades that border the plaza.
Teams of ambulance personnel, mounted police officers, members of the Swiss Guard – the Vatican’s own army – and Italian special forces, some of whom carry intimidating-looking anti-drone weapons, line the plaza.
In St Peter’s Square, Al Jazeera spoke to people from many countries, including Morocco, Kenya, and the US.
Some had travelled to Rome upon hearing news of the pope’s death, but many were either living in or visiting Rome. Some had extended their stay so they could attend the funeral.
Francisco Horfa, a 33-year-old theology student from the Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, was in Rome to be ordained as a deacon on May 7.
He proudly waved the red, yellow, and black East Timor flag with a compatriot in the plaza as he described this period of mourning as “emotional and full of prayer”.
He said the pope had visited his home country in September and had left a “great impression” on its people.
About half of the nation’s 1.3 million population was reported to have attended his mass on the outskirts of the capital Dili, as he celebrated the nation for its reconciliation with its neighbour Indonesia, from which it achieved independence in 2002.
Annalia Alia, a 69-year-old woman from the Philippines and a devout Catholic, had seen Pope Francis when he visited the Southeast Asian country in 2015.
Now, 10 years later, she had seen his body lying in an open wooden coffin at St Peter’s Basilica’s main altar.
“It feels like everything has come full circle, I saw him in life and now I saw him in death,” she said. It had been an “indescribable and emotional experience”, she added.
She had come to Rome for the Jubilee, when pilgrims from around the world travel to the city to seek spiritual renewal.
During the Jubilee year, the Holy Doors at Rome’s four major papal basilicas are opened, allowing pilgrims to pass through them to receive a plenary indulgence (a forgiveness of sins).
Flanked by her two daughters, she said she felt fortunate to have been in Rome when the pope died, but wanted to go to her hotel to rest, as she felt overwhelmed.
Ernest Damasco, a 55-year-old pilgrim also from the Philippines, said he had come to Rome “with the hope of seeing the pope wave from the balcony (overlooking St Peter’s Square), but instead it feels like I have lost a father, a great leader who was inspirational to me”.
He brought a “fresh and different approach” to his papacy, with more down-to-earth teachings compared with his predecessors that resonated with many Catholics around the world, Damasco said.
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