Farewell, people’s Pope
Presidents, royalty and simple mourners bade farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday at a solemn funeral ceremony, where a cardinal appealed for the pontiff’s legacy of caring for migrants, the downtrodden and the environment to be kept alive.
US President Donald Trump, who had clashed with the Pope on those issues, sat with the rows of foreign dignitaries on one side of Francis’ coffin in the vast St Peter’s Square.
Among the world leaders was Indian President Droupadi Murmu, who attended the funeral Mass of Pope Francis at St Peter’s Square here on Saturday. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, George Kurian and Deputy Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly, Joshua De Souza, who are part of the official Indian delegation led by the President, also attended the ceremony.
On the other side of the Pope’s coffin, sat cardinals who will pick Francis’ successor at a conclave next month, deciding if the new pope should continue with the late pontiff’s push for a more open Church or cede to conservatives, who want to return to a more traditional papacy.
The Argentine pope, who reigned for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral Mass.
Francis repeatedly called for an end to conflict during his papacy. His funeral provided an opportunity for Trump, who is pushing for a deal to end Russia’s war with Ukraine, to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inside St Peter’s Basilica.
Applause rang out as Francis’ coffin, inlaid with a large cross, was brought out of the basilica and into the sun-filled square by 14 white-gloved pallbearers at the start of the Mass. The Vatican estimated more than 2,50,000 people attended the ceremony.
Aerial views of the Vatican showed a patchwork of colours – black from the dark garb of the world’s leaders, red from the vestments of some 250 cardinals, the purple worn by some of the 400 bishops and the white worn by 4,000 attending priests.
After the funeral, as the great bells of St Peter’s pealed in mourning, the coffin was placed on an open-topped popemobile and driven through the heart of Rome to St Mary Major Basilica.
Francis, who shunned much of the pomp and privilege of the papacy, had asked to be buried there rather than in St Peter’s — the first time a pope had been laid to rest outside the Vatican in more than a century. The burial itself was conducted in private. — Reuters/PTI
World