Mourners packed into St Peter’s Square, many kneeling on the black cobbles, matching spiritual grief with physical suffering as the sun beat down on the Vatican funeral of Pope Francis.
At the farewell for a pontiff who blurred the line between religion and the real world, it was no surprise that politics hung in the air.
As tens of thousands of Catholics poured through Rome towards the Vatican, there was a clear divide among the faithful: between those who bade Francis farewell and those who mourned his loss.
Pope Francis modernised Catholic liturgy in the West, but it was his championing of causes often associated with “liberals” – notably the rights of homosexuals, the trans community, migrants, and the old-fashioned economics of charity and fairness – that marked his rule.
John Maher, a visitor from Cardiff, said that Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, “was a proper theologian”. Benedict was a conservative who held tradition dear within the church and took less interest in secular and political matters, preferring to shy away from the church’s left and liberation theology.
Mr Maher said Francis, a Jesuit from Argentina who lived through South American dictatorships, had taken a more inclusive approach.
“I don’t think Pope Francis was in the same vein. He made quite a few changes in his pontificate, whether we all believe they’re for the good or not,” Mr Maher said.
He preferred not to be drawn on where the last pope “went too far” but replied “don’t get me going” when asked about migrants and homosexual rights which were, perhaps, issues Mr Maher preferred left to politicians.
Two American mourners, both women, were also in Rome for the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, a layman born in London in 1991 who died in Monza in 2006 after a battle with leukaemia.
“I think the Holy Father did a wonderful job for today’s youth,” said one of the Americans. “The message that he brought to the youth of today and to the world was one of unity and one of inclusion and I appreciated that aspect of him.”
Other aspects?
“I think that he exuded Jesus in a very new way that wasn’t necessarily bad,” she replied.
Following the mass with pamphlets printed in several languages, different communities swelled with pride when their home tongue was used during the service. A Maronite woman, wrapped in the flag of embattled Lebanon, sighed audibly when she heard responses in Arabic. Spanish-speaking mourners brightened when the mass switched briefly from Latin to Spanish, in a service intended to set a tone for the coming votes for a new pope.
Cardinals under the age of 80 will soon gather for the conclave to elect a new pope. Their decision may either carry Francis’s legacy forward – or mark a return to a more conservative line.
Mbale Thabete, from Soweto in South Africa, said the Franciscan legacy was that “he brought the Catholic church and the faith closer to people, he opened it up to say ‘look we’re not perfect’ and also he ruffled some feathers”.
“You can’t be in that position and stand for certain things and ruffle some feathers and the status quo because in order for the faith and the Catholic church to survive we’ve got to move with the times. [It] doesn’t mean we lose all the traditions and what makes us Catholics,” she insisted.
Around the time she was speaking in the centre of St Peter’s Square, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky were holding a 15-minute meeting somewhere inside the Basilica complex. Both men, it seemed, respected the solemnity of the occasion – if not the unequivocal support for Ukraine that Francis had shown.
It was the first time they had been together since the disastrous Oval Office encounter when vice-president JD Vance and Mr Trump launched attacks on the Ukrainian president, accusing him of “risking World War Three”.
In the Vatican the effort was to focus on trying to get a ceasefire agreement done, which Mr Trump has been driving hard but largely echoing Russian positions.
Posting later on Telegram, Mr Zelensky wrote: “Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about.”
He said those topics included “the protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war.”
“It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!” he added. The White House said the meeting had been positive.
Only Mr Zelensky received applause when he later appeared on the steps of the Basilica, dressed in a black military-style suit, without a tie. Mr Trump stood out in what appeared to be a blue suit among lines of foreign dignitaries mostly dressed in traditional black.
The secular world was further invoked in the spiritual life of Francis during his eulogy by Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
The cardinal, echoing his late pope, took aim at nativist nationalism masquerading as Christianity. He repeated a phrase Francis had used when criticising Trump’s immigration policies during his first term: it is better, he said, “to build bridges, not walls”.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” said Pope Francis at the time. “This is not in the gospel.”
Cardinal Re also invoked Francis’s outspoken care for migrants, his calls for peace, and his urgent warnings about climate change – issues often rejected or sidelined by Christian nationalists on the right.
Re’s message was a reinforcement of Francis’s legacy and a signal of how he, at least, wants to see the conclave of 135 cardinals vote.
At 91, Re will not cast a ballot himself, but his words, broadcast to millions worldwide, will echo in the minds of church leaders as they gather in the Sistine Chapel.
During the service, there was a strong presence of visitors – some there to witness the ceremony, others to capture selfies.
Among the crowds, a few visitors posed for photos in front of the Basilica, dressed more for a summer party than a funeral. But true to the spirit of the occasion, there was no sign that they were unwelcome.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Re. He touched people’s hearts, said the cardinal, “in a direct and immediate way”.
“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” said the cardinal.
