LARGE CROWDS WAITING TO PAY FINAL RESPECTS TO POPE FRANCIS – Almost 130,000 people from all over the world have bid farewell to the pontiff
Queues of Catholic faithful filed into St. Peter’s throughout the night and in the early hours of Friday, April 25th, on the last day to bid farewell to Pope Francis ahead of his funeral on Saturday.
The Basilica was open for most of the night, shutting its doors for only three hours between 2:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) and 5:30 a.m.
The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was brought to St. Peter’s in a solemn procession on Wednesday.
Since then, almost 130,000 people from all over the world have bid farewell to the pontiff, the Vatican said.
