(24 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome – 24 April 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Trisha Thomas, The Associated Press: ++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 2++
"Thousands of people are lining up here along Via della Conciliazione to get into St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their last respects to Pope Francis. Pope Francis has been lying in state since yesterday, and the Vatican said that as of noon Thursday, 50,000 people had passed by his coffin. It will remain there, lying in stay until Friday evening at 8 o’clock Rome time when there will be the sealing of the coffin ceremony. It’s a ritual at the Vatican where the Camerlengo puts a white cloth over the pope’s face and then they have a cylinder which inside is a piece of paper with a summary in one page of Pope Francis’s papacy. The paper is put inside the cylinder and it’s put inside of the coffin that is sealed. On Saturday, there will be the funeral with dignitaries coming from all over the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, French President Macron, kings, queens, and leaders from all around the world. There will be massive security, to say the least, and there will tens and thousands of faithful. Following the funeral ceremony, there’ll be a procession to take the casket across Rome to the St. Mary Major Basilica where Pope Francis has asked to be buried. He would like a simple plaque on his tomb that just says one word, Franciscus, the name of his papal name in Latin."
2. Various of lines, faithful and media in St. Peter’s Square
STORYLINE:
So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning.
The basilica is bathed in a hushed silence as mourners from across the globe make a slow, shuffling procession up the main aisle to pay their last respects to Francis, who died Monday after a stroke.
The hours spent on line up the stately via della Conciliazione through St. Peter’s Square and through the Holy Door into the basilica has allowed mourners to find community around the Argentine pontiff’s legacy of inclusion and humble persona.
The last numbers released by the Vatican said more than 50,000 people had paid their respects during the first 12 hours of the public viewing , starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The basilica closed for just one hour Thursday morning, from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m., the planned opening time.
Out of devotion to the pope and his message of inclusion, the grieving faithful joined the procession of mourners that wended from St. Peter’s Square through the basilica’s Holy Door, with the repentant among them winning an indulgence, a form of atonement granted during the Jubilee Holy Year.
From there, the line extended down the basilica’s central aisle to the pope’s simple wooden casket.
By late Wednesday, the wait appeared to be three or four hours and growing. A person doing crowd management estimated that the wait was closer to five hours. The mourners stretched down the center of Via della Conciliazione, in a lane set aside for Jubilee pilgrims.
After three days of public viewing, a funeral Mass including heads of state will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square.
The pope will then be buried in a niche within the St. Mary Major Basilica, near his favourite Madonna icon.
AP Video shot by Paolo Lucariello
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