Pope’s funeral: 90,000 have already said goodbye to Francis in the Basilica of St. Peter

About 90,000 people have already passed the São Pedro Basilica to say goodbye to, according to the Thursday afternoon (24). The count was made until 19h (14h of Brasilia). The second day had a less intense flow of more organized pilgrims and queues. Faithful reported that they just faced 15 minutes of waiting in the late afternoon in the Italian capital. The day was marked by peaks in the flow of visitors.

Very different scenario from the previous day: the farewells began on Wednesday (23), with reports of up to five hours in line, and people entering the Basilica until 5:30 am. Visits were suspended for 1:30 am, only to clean the church. Many groups of young people attended the wake. They were in Rome for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, which would take place on Sunday (27), but was canceled after the pontiff’s death.

“We were for canonization, but we were surprised by the Pope’s death. In every way, we are happy to be able to say goodbye to Pope Francis, and we will be in the funeral on Saturday,” says Honduran Suyapa Yanes, coordinator of a group of teenagers who came from the Diocese of Wilmington.

In line, a frequent garment is the “celestial” shirt, as the Argentine team is known. “It is very strong for an Argentine to live this here. We closely follow the Pope’s health and is very inspiring to see how very strong, who always went on and lived everything with a sense of love. We, Argentines, have a lot to learn from him,” says psychologist Rosario Romero.

“We look forward to participating in this moment,” says capixaba Tiago Ventura. “We arrived in Rome two days ago and yesterday we did not face the line, but today we are willing to wait two hours to see him.” This Friday (25), the Vatican expects more people due to the holiday in Italy (release day) and the concentration of those arriving to participate in the funeral on Saturday (26).

*With information from Estadão Conteudo
Posted by Carolina Ferreira