(24 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vatican City – 24 April 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Faithful walking towards St Peter’s Basilica
2. Various of faithful in front of St Peter’s Basilica
3. Various of faithful queueing to enter basilica
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Emiliano Fernandez, faithful from Mexico:
“I have been here for two hours now already and we are not even in there yet, but I think, I don’t even care how many time I wait here. It’s just the opportunity to have this and how I admired Francisco in his life. When I saw him in Mexico it was just an amazing experience I will never forget. So I think because of the respect that I have for him and the great person he was, it’s worth the wait.”
5. Faithful queueing
6. Faithful holding rosary in his hands
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Von Mark Estrada, faithful from Philippines:
“This is the pope of my era, should I say. Of course when I was a child there was the Pope John Paul II, but when I was in my adolescence here there is new pope, Pope Francis. I think he is my favourite pope.”
8. Various of faithful walking towards security checks to enter St Peter’s Basilica
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lahna Klein, faithful from the United States and student at John Cabot University in Rome:
“Yeah walking in there it was very emotional. I think he was a leader who really loved. He loved people and I think he wanted to spread that message of just love and compassion. And walking in there it was so silent but you could feel how much people really cared about him and how much love there was for this man.”
10. Faithful walking towards basilica
11. Faithful entering basilica
12. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Emanuela Graziano, faithful from Italy:
“(It was) a very strong emotion. It was a bit heart-breaking to see him there, motionless logically. But is was good, it was soothing, it gives you an inner peace. It was good, emotional, it was worth to queue.”
13. Faithful queuing
14. Various of faithful outside basilica
STORYLINE:
St. Peter’s Basilica remained open past midnight on Thursday, to allow thousands of faithful lining up to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis.
Pope Francis was moved Wednesday morning to the basilica to lie in state for three days of public mourning for the Argentine pontiff remembered for his humble style, concern for the poor and insistent prayers for peace.
The public viewing is largely meant as a chance for ordinary Catholics to grieve the 88-year-old pope, who died Monday of a stroke.
Citing the “elevated turnout’’ of faithful paying their respects, the Vatican said Wednesday that it may keep St. Peter’s Basilica open past midnight.
No official numbers of how many people have entered the basilica have yet been released.
Thousands of people have been lining up in St. Peter’s Square since early Wednesday morning, some waiting hours to enter the basilica where Francis’ open casket has been set in front of the main altar.
"He loved people and I think he wanted to spread that message of just love and compassion," said Lahna Klein, a faithful from the United States and student at John Cabot University in Rome.
"Walking in there it was so silent but you could feel how much people really cared about him and how much love there was for this man,” she added.
The initial plan was for the basilica to stay open until midnight Wednesday and Thursday, with the official period of mourning closing on Friday at 7 p.m. ahead of Saturday’s funeral.
The public mourning period will end on Friday at 7 p.m. local time.
AP Video shot by Isaia Montelione
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