02-05-2025
Paul Clark: Reporting on Pope Francis among the thousands of pilgrims
I watched Pope Francis give his Easter Blessing - Urbi et Orbi - from the Vatican, on Easter Sunday. A short time later, I witnessed him being driven among the faithful, in St Peter's Square.
I did not expect what happened next… I was listening to the radio, just before nine, on Monday morning, when I received a news alert on my phone.
Over the next few seconds, it was followed by many more pings. The Pope was dead!
Earlier this year, we had been expecting the news, when the Pontiff was in hospital. Though he looked and sounded frail on Sunday, we presumed that he had pulled through.
The death of Francis, a few hours after the holiest day in the Christian calendar was still a shock. I have no way of proving this, but I did wonder if the Pope had wished to live long enough, to witness the resurrection. We will never know this for sure, but a number of respected commentators have shared the same view.
Cameraman Tommy Hassan, and I, were dispatched to Rome early on Tuesday morning. We were broadcasting live that evening. The next five days were a roller-coaster, as we were caught up in a sea of humanity, which descended upon The Vatican.
At one point, I had difficulty remembering which day it was. The faithful came in their tens of thousands!
This wasn't my first Papal funeral. Exactly twenty years ago, in April 2005, I was in Rome for the Requiem of John Paul II. I remember the emotion following his death. First, he came from a very Catholic country. Poland was a relatively short journey from Rome.
They came… and, they came in their hundreds of thousands to mourn. What I noticed most, was their ages. They were young. So much for a Church which was dying.
This time, once again, I was struck by the huge numbers of young people. Many of them had come to Rome because it was the Jubilee of Teenagers; an event which drew tens of thousands from around the world. This event took place, despite the death of Francis.
These people may have come here on a pilgrimage. They remained as mourners.
Last Saturday morning, at the Pope's funeral, the television cameras rightly focussed on the Mass, and the world leaders who had come to mourn.
From where I was standing, on the Via della Conciliazione, the people attending the open-air Mass were not spectators. They were participants. They knelt, they prayed, and they took Communion.
In life, Pope Francis had reached out far beyond his comfort zone. He worked among the poor in his native Argentina. He continued to reach out to people on the fringes of society, around the world, and, particularly in Rome.
On Holy Thursday, he visited the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. While unable to celebrate the liturgy of the Lord's Supper and the washing of feet, he greeted inmates personally, offering words of encouragement and gifts. That was the measure of the Pontiff.
What will be his legacy? We will have a clearer picture of what lies ahead for the Church, after the Conclave.
