{"id":290004,"date":"2025-04-25T09:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T09:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/a-faithful-throng-pays-last-respects-to-pope-francis\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T09:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T09:50:07","slug":"a-faithful-throng-pays-last-respects-to-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/a-faithful-throng-pays-last-respects-to-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Faithful Throng Pays Last Respects to Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The doors opened to St. Peter\u2019s Basilica at 5:40 a.m. on Friday, and people immediately began to trickle in to pay their last respects to Pope Francis, whose body lay in a simple wood coffin beneath the vast dome designed by Michelangelo. A couple of hours later, the trickle was a river, as thousands moved through the basilica on the last day they could say goodbye to the pontiff.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019 funeral is set for Saturday. Afterward he will be buried across town in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a place dear to his heart.<\/p>\n

St. Peter\u2019s has been open nearly round-the-clock since Francis\u2019s body was moved here on Wednesday from the Vatican guesthouse where he had lived and died. The Vatican said that by 8 a.m. Friday, 128,000 people had passed through.<\/p>\n

Depending on the time of day, the wait to pass by the coffin could take hours. \u201cIt\u2019s normal because so many people loved him,\u201d said Daniela Sirigu, who lives in Rome and paid her respects on Friday. She said she\u2019d heard dozens of languages, as well as Italian dialects, while waiting for her turn to say goodbye. \u201cIt meant a lot to me to see him, he gave us so much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n