Vatican City – Miles gathered in the Plaza de San Pedro on Monday to respect Pope Francis after his death that morning.
A multitude of languages could be heard when people, many of the flowers they transported, were spoken in silent tones.
When the sun set, a prayer was a hero for the late Argentine pontiff, who died at the age of 88 years after a cerebral spill and heart failure.
His death came in a symbolic moment, not only because it was Easter Monday, one day marking the resurrection and the new life, but also because it is the year of the jubilee, a Catholic pilgrimage that occurs every room of the century.
Pope Francis had opened the Sacred Basilica by or San Pedro only four months before to mark the beginning of the jubilee while welcoming millions of pilgrims to the Vatican.
He had invited the world inside, and now, as Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Sacred Roman Church announced Monday morning, “returned to the father’s house.”
Pope Francis ‘felt authentic’
Miguel Cofarro, a 61 -year -old devotee Catholic in Rome, was at St Peter’s Square with three friends on Monday night.
He said he felt that he had lost his grandfather, a “honest” character who had the best interests of people in his heart.
“Pope Francis took over the Vatican, fought against corruption and was more open with information. He felt authentic,” he said firmly, his friends nodded.
When Cofarro finished the work, he went to the square without a real plan. He was, he said, like many novels, still in shock.
Jessica Hernández, a 39 -year -old hotel worker from Mexico, said that although she is not particularly religious, she was raised in a Catholic house, and the news had a “powerful and disturbing shock.”
He had spent most of the night by phone with his mother in Mexico, describing the mood in the Plaza de San Pedro.
Kevin de la Rosa, a 26 -year -old bars of Venezuela, sat looking at people in a surrounding and closed area in front of the great facade of the Basilica of San Pedro, who is flanked by colossal statues and opens Santos de Santos.
He said he arrived at the Vatican out of curiosity to the ingenuity that people were reacting and experiencing the atmosphere on the historic day, which he described as “gloomy” and “respectful.”
For De la Rosa, mood evoked many memories of childhood from his country of origin, where he attended a Catholic school.
Seeing how the death of the Pope has transferred people in Rome, he has helped him rediscover his respect for the Church, he said, explaining how, for him, the pontiff was an important figure that defended the poor.
Rome, Vatican for mourners from all over the world
Luciano Biteno, a member of the International Red Cross, looked through the square, adjusting his Walkie-Talkie while communicating with 20 more or less colleagues who were deployed in the area.
About an ambulance boxes flanked the periphery of the square.
Biteno said that Monday was quiet and that there were no medical emergencies to drive, but he hoped that many more people came from all over the next few days.
He said that all authorities, including the police and the army, are increasing their presence in the Vatican to handle the anticipated increase in the number of visitors after the death of the Pope.
Hernández said that the hotel where he works is now fully reserved over the next 15 days, and hotel staff has said to be prepared for overtime.
On Tuesday, she said: “Rome will change. It will be full of people: we have reservations from around the world and it seems that everyone comes to this city.”
For now, San Pedro’s seat is vacant and papal apartments are sealed.
The Cardinals College, composed of the senior Catholic clergy, will have to choose the successor of Pope Francis, but, for now, there will be a nine -day mourning period in the Vatican as cardinals around the world. The funeral of Pope Francis will take place on Saturday, April 26.