The body of the late Pope Francis lies in state in St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday Credit: Giuseppe Lami/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The usually bustling St Peter’s Square is calm after the death of ‘the last good person in the world Paula Orr stared at the yellowing, dead face of Pope Francis. Then she burst into tears: it was all too much. “He looked so happy,” said Ms Orr, 67, a retired civil servant from Bedford who had been among the first members of the public queuing to say goodbye to a favourite pope on Wednesday.
“It was lovely. It was very moving, very emotional. You could see the serenity in his face. He is at peace.”
Ms Orr flew into Rome on Monday with her two sisters, learning of Pope Francis’s death as the plane touched down.
Devout Catholics, they had come to say prayers for a brother who died in October. Now they found themselves praying for a dead pope as well
The sisters survived the Roman sunshine, joining the queue that grew steadily through the morning, before entering St Peter’s Basilica, where Pope Francis’s body lay under the 450ft dome.
The body, looking tiny in the vast space, was no more than ten feet away in an open casket, a simple coffin lined with red silk.
The throng shuffled by, pulling out mobile phones to take photographs, while the guards muttered in broken English, “no stop, please”, in an attempt to keep the queue moving.
One nun took a selfie with the coffin in the background, holding up proceedings for a second or two more.
Despite this being Italy, the queueing was not chaotic. Only a few queue-jumpers vaulted barriers to get ahead and it looked as though some ladies on the Pilgrims of Hope tour from the US Virgin Islands had barged through to gain an advantage
Volunteer guides had no idea where the queue began but, by hook or Pope’s crook, it worked itself out. The sisters from Bedford shuffled and swayed for no more than an hour before finding themselves inside St Peter’s.
The hot sun gave way to cool air and the chatter dropped to an eerie silence.
“As I get closer, I am getting more nervous,” said Liz Duggan, 71, a retired teacher and Ms Orr’s big sister. “Our brother died last October and it’s one of the reasons we are here now.”
The Pope’s body did not upset Ms Duggan: for the sisters it was a sight of calm and peace. “The body is just a shell,” said Ms Duggan, who also lives in Bedford.
