In 250 thousand they paid tribute to Pope Francis. A long river of people who in these days wanted to give the pontiff the last farewell, despite the files, the heat, in some moments the rain. Prayers and also tears, even if the Argentine Pope likes the most, after all, was laughing. Tomorrow the funeral in Square San Pietro to whom 200 thousand people are expected. The security machine is already ready, considered the great influx of expected people but also the presence of coroned heads and crowned heads that came from all over the world. And then there will be that funeral procession for the center of Rome which has few precedents in history.
Ansa agency ‘Rogito for the pious transit’ of Pope Francis: ‘Mirabile testimony of humanity and holy life’ – From farewell to Francesco to the new Pope – Ansa.it The document read and placed in the coffin to the closing rite (ANSA) The coffin placed on a wagon that will allow everyone his vision; Then the cars of the cardinals, and a proceeding at a men’s pace, even an hour for that city that he had embraced twelve years ago becoming the bishop, as he loved to remember whenever he could. Today ended with the closure of the coffin: an ancient rite, solemn and full of meanings, with the affixing of the white silk veil on the face and the insertion of the bag with the pontificate coins and the tube with the deed.
“Francesco has left everyone an admirable testimony of humanity, holy life and universal paternity”. With these words, the “deed for the pious transit” of Pope Francis ends, the document that reports his life and the works, read tonight and deposed inside the coffin during the rite of the closure, in the Basilica of San Pietro.
Ancient gestures, the same for centuries, but which retain all their meaning; However, the material end of a pontificate of which the spiritual legacy remains. Among the last people to greet Francesco there are the most diverse figures, from the beloved cousins who arrived today from Asti to the Nobel Prize Mohamed Yunus, who shared many battles with Francesco for a more just economy. At the end of the evening, French president Emmanuel Macron arrives but there is also Mrs. Carmela next to it, the one that brought a bouquet of yellow flowers to Gemelli and that the Pope greeted from the balcony.
At the funeral, in the place of honor among the authorities, there will be president Javier Milei, the same one who insulted Bergoglio in the election campaign. Francesco had forgiven him for those insults with vulgar tones received but not for his choices to the detriment of the Argentine people and for that relationship of members of his staff with the old representatives of the dictatorship. Bergoglio perhaps wanted to review his Argentina, once he went close to the organization of an apostolic journey in Latin America. But in fact it has no longer returned home perhaps even for these not easy relationships with the rulers who have succeeded each other. After the Argentine one, followed by the Italian delegation, led by President Sergio Mattarella and by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and then sovereigns and heads of state in alphabetical order, from the royalty of Spain to those of Jordan, passing through presidents of the Republic, such as his friend Lula, the top of the UN and all international organizations, and also delegations, such as the Israeli (in reality only the ambassador) who will find themselves face to face in front of the coffin of the one who has asked for peace in these years.
In the provisional list there is no representative of Russia, however, and perhaps, at the last moment, even the president Volodymyr Zelensky may not be present. There will certainly be his friends, the poorest on the earth that today the alms of Konrad Krajowski went to find in canteens and dormitories to donate the Rosary of Francesco. They will be in St. Peter’s Square and about forty to wait for him also on the churchyard of Santa Maria Maggiore. Migrants, Senacasa, victims of trafficking, trans, but for Francesco they were not categories: he had known them one by one, he had helped them, comforted, encouraged. Tomorrow they will be there, where Francesco has chosen to be buried, in a sort of picket of honor.
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