Kerry woman in Rome says people in city are 'distraught' at death of Pope Francis
Shannon Elumelu Oba and her mom, Theresa, are in the Italian capital this week on what was a surprise 50th birthday trip for Theresa. The pair, who are both very religious – Theresa herself recently graduated from the Lay Person's Course in Mary I in Limerick – were not going to pass up the opportunity to head to the Vatican on Easter Sunday of all days.
Getting to see the late Pope on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica where, in a weak voice, he wished everyone a Happy Easter, Shannon and her mom were overjoyed, not knowing that they'd soon see the frail looking Argentine up close when he made a surprise tour of St Peter's Square in his pope-mobile where he waved to the crowds.
"This trip to Italy was a present to my mom for her 50th birthday. We surprised her with a trip to Rome on Easter Sunday and we were lucky enough to get tickets to the mass. It was amazing and then when he came and did the mini-tour around the Square, it was so special and amazing. My mom was in tears the whole time, she was hugging everyone around her. She was just so grateful, we both were,' said Shannon.
The news of his sudden passing from a cerebral stroke and subsequent heart failure just a day later though left her in shock. On how she found out about his passing, she said she actually heard about it from a friend back home.
"We were out for breakfast and I hadn't been on my phone much all morning and it was one of my friends that broke the news, they texted me telling me that the Pope had died. They were shocked because I had just seen him on Easter Sunday. I couldn't believe it. I was like 'no way!' and then I looked it up and there it was, 13 minutes ago posted by the BBC, that the Pope had passed away.
"It's so shocking to have it happen so suddenly after we had seen him. For him to die the following day after we had seen him up close, we now realise we were just so lucky to have seen him,' she continued.
On what the mood is like in Rome right now, Shannon said that it's a mixture of hectic and sombre.
"Yesterday [Easter Monday], there was people crying all over the place, my mom included. People were just distraught. There is media everywhere and the crowds are huge, there's so many people,' she said.
"Today (Tuesday) we actually did a tour of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum. We got an early slot because we knew that later on in the day, they would have to close it down because they would need to get his body out. As we were leaving, we decided to see if we could go into St Peter's Basilica but we couldn't because they were sealing it off."
The Pope's funeral will take place on Saturday, April 26 in front of St Peter's Basilica at 9am Irish time.
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