Vatican keeps St. Peter’s open all night for public viewing of Pope Francis due to strong turnout

VATICAN CITY AP So a multitude of 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 group around the Argentine pontiff s legacy of inclusion and humble persona Emiliano Fernandez a Catholic from Mexico was waiting in line around midnight and after two hours still had not reached the basilica I don t even care how much time I wait here It s just the opportunity to show how I admired Francisco in his life commented Fernandez whose admiration for the pope grew during his visit to Mexico I think because of the respect that I have for him and the great person he was it s worth the wait The last numbers issued by the Vatican announced more than people had paid their respects during the first hours of the populace viewing on Wednesday The basilica closed for just one hour Thursday morning from a m until a m the planned opening time Among the first-day mourners was a church group of -year-olds from near Milan who arrived for the now-suspended canonization of the first millennial saint as well as a woman who prayed to the pope for a triumphant operation and an Italian family who brought their small children to see the pope s body We came because we didn t bring them when he was alive so we thought we would bring them for a final farewell noted Rosa Scorpati who was exiting the basilica Wednesday with her three children in strollers They were good but I don t think they really understood because they haven t yet had to deal with death Like numerous others the Scorpati family from Calabria was in Rome on an Easter vacation only to be met with the news of Francis death on Easter Monday 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 populace 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 favorite Madonna icon The death of Francis who was capped a -year pontificate characterized by his concern for the poor and his message of inclusion but he was also criticized by specific conservatives who felt alienated by his progressive outlook A procession of priests bishops and cardinals accompanied Francis body Wednesday on its journey from a private viewing inside the Vatican to St Peter s Square The pageantry contrasted with the human interactions of rank-and-file mourners at the citizens viewing Francis lay in state in an open casket perched on a ramp facing mourners with four Swiss Guards standing at attention As the crowd reached the casket multiple lifted their smartphones to snap a photo One nun accompanying an elderly woman with a cane walked away sobbing My pope is gone Such despair was rare The mood was more one of gratitude for a pope who had by example taught various people to open their minds I am very devoted to the pope noted Ivenes Bianco who was in Rome from Brindisi Italy for an operation He was crucial to me because he brought countless people together by encouraging coexistence She cited Francis acceptance of the gay population and his insistence on helping the poor Humbeline Coroy came to Rome from Perpignan France for the planned canonization Sunday of -year-old Carlo Acutis which was suspended after the pope s death She stayed to pay respects to Francis enjoying exchanges with Japanese mourners they met as they waited under the sun in St Peter s Square For me it is a lot of things In my job I work with disabled children and I traveled to Madagascar to work with poor people Being here and close to the pope is a way of integrating these experiences and make them concrete she explained Coroy also brought prayers for her father who is sick with cancer For Alessandra Nardi the pope s death brought back memories of the death three years ago of her beloved uncle Luigi who used to call her from St Peter s Square when he came to see Pope Francis say Mass He let me hear the bells toll It was a beautiful thing Riccardo Ojedea from Colombia explained his experience waiting in line for two hours to pay respects to the pope had shown him how much humanity loves the pope He left a very significant legacy for everyone he reported to make this world happier