Mourners Bid Solemn Farewell to Pope Francis

Some mourners had spent the night sleeping in the streets near the Vatican, and they started lining up at dawn on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square to bid farewell to Pope Francis. Hours later, world leaders took their seats in rows near an altar set up in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. “He represented Latinos, immigrants — he was a reference for all of us.”Some of the mourners wore suits, others the blue and white soccer jerseys of Francis’ native Argentina. Pope Francis was “giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalized,” Cardinal Re said, as he stood within sight of a giant statue of St. Peter, the Roman Catholic Church’s first pope. She had prayed that Pope Francis, who suffered from knee ailments, would relieve her legs from pain and allow her to make it to St. Peter’s in time for the funeral.