Word circulated around Vatican City on Thursday that the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis would most likely begin on Monday or Tuesday week. It’s fair to say this was not uppermost in the minds of most people in the shops at the end of St Peter’s Square.
Popes may come and popes may go but commercial Rome goes on forever, and no more so than in the precincts of Vatican City.
Trade has been brisk in the shops around St Peter’s Square these days, where the hierarchy of affection in which recent popes were held is very clear from postcards on display. Included are John XXIII, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Francis here, there and everywhere.
There are even some of Pius XII, who died in 1958 – but very few of Benedict XVI. Beloved of traditionalists, he disappointed even them by resigning the papacy in 2013, a precedent too far for fervent supporters.
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Francis at least pleased them by dying in office.
A small ad hoc shrine to Francis, in blue and yellow, has been set up near the square with an icon of the crucifixion, candles, three bouquets of flowers and candles. The message “Arrivederci in Paradiso Papa Francesco” (“See you in heaven, Pope Francis”) pinned to the wall behind it.
Such have been the crowds wishing to see the pope’s remains that Vatican authorities decided on Wednesday to keep St Peter’s Basilica open all night.
It is expected to remain open continuously until 8pm on Friday, when the coffin will be closed in preparation for the funeral on Saturday.
Fr Gerry Comiskey has been in Rome on a short sabbatical from his Kilmore diocese – which mainly serves Cavan. This is how he could be in St Peter’s Square for the last public appearance of Francis on Sunday. “We were just so amazed that he managed to attend. Within the circle where I was seated there was a gasp, a sigh from all of us when his voice was heard and we could see him at a distance, so frail,” he says. “It was obvious that he was very unwell. It was such a privileged moment.”
Fr Comiskey is staying on for the funeral on Saturday.
Also present was Larry Connors from Co Wexford. “We came to see the Pope on Easter weekend, It’s absolutely beautiful, my aunt Sarah Connors and my uncle Big John Furey, behind you.” They too saw Francis on Sunday.
“We saw him, God bless the mark, and then he died the next day. Unbelievable. He was a beautiful man.”
Larry Connors says they are also staying for the funeral. “We’ve been all over, we’ve been to Lourdes, we’ve been to Medjugorje, it’s my first year here. A really wonderful experience.”
Sarah Connors, who is in Rome for the first time, always wanted to see Francis. “I was hoping to see him because I saw a lot of popes. I saw John Paul in Cardiff years ago, in the ’80s, and I saw pope Benedict in Birmingham [2010], so I came here hoping to see him.”
Her husband, Big John Furey, is from Wales and a first cousin of heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury. “His father and my grandfather would be all the one people. All over from Ireland, we settled in Wales and they settled in Manchester. But the Fureys are all the one people.”
He was “glad to see the pope before he died” and was “very surprised” to see him on the balcony last Sunday. “Beautiful. I’d say he’d be a saint.”
Brenda Cleary from Belfast will be at the funeral, “definitely”, though she had not planned to be. She is in Rome for the canonisation of Blessed Carlo Acutis next Sunday, which has been postponed. “As people would say, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans,” she recalled.
She met Francis at an ordination in Rome. “I invited him to Ireland, although he had already been.
“Would you like to come to Ireland and have a quiet break and I can send someone to replace you?” she asked him, suggesting that Catholic Archbishop and Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin could stand in his place.
“You let him come here [Rome] for three weeks and I’ll take you to Ireland, secretly, for three weeks and then we can say we had an Irish pope for three weeks,” she told him. Francis laughed.
“I loved Pope Francis, he had that air that made you feel at home.”
She hopes the next pope “would be as down to earth, would be human, not aloof, that we have to look up to, because we’re all equal in God’s eyes”.
Cleary then set off for Assisi to see the remains of Blessed Carlo Acutis and plans – “whatever God may think” – to be back in Rome on Friday for the funeral of Francis on Saturday morning.
