Crowds gather to pray the rosary for repose of pope’s soul

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Just as hundreds of people had gathered at the Vatican each night to recite the rosary when Pope Francis was hospitalized, throngs returned to recite the Marian prayer for the repose of his soul after his death.

Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m. April 21; 12 hours later Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, led the recitation of the rosary on the basilica steps.

Earlier in the day, Vatican employees had hurriedly removed the thousands of festive Easter flowers that had decorated the steps.

But Cardinal Gambetti, introducing the prayer, told people in the square that it is Easter that tells Christians that “death is not a door that closes but the entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem, where mourning is changed into dance, and sackcloth into the garment of joy.”

“We want to thank the Lord for the gifts he has given to the whole church with the apostolic ministry of Pope Francis, a pilgrim of hope that does not disappoint,” the cardinal said.

“We want to entrust him to the merciful Father, in communion with Mary, Queen of Heaven, and through the intercession of the apostle Peter,” Cardinal Gambetti said. “Our prayerful voice is joined by the voices of our brothers and sisters scattered throughout the world. It is the whole flock of Christ, the good shepherd, who prays for Pope Francis.”

The people inside and outside the square came from all over the world.

Laura, who usually lives under the awning outside the Vatican press office, had temporarily moved a few blocks away at the request of police because of the crowds expected for Easter and Easter Monday, an Italian holiday.

She was woken up April 21 by a shopkeeper yelling that the pope had died.

“He was so strong and brought everyone together from every continent of the globe,” she said.

“But he should not have left the hospital” March 23, she said, insisting that he would have been safer at the hospital than at the Vatican.

Devangi Bhuta, a Hindu from Mumbai, India, was on a tour of Rome and the Vatican with her husband when the pope’s death was announced.

“I was very sorry to hear the news. I pray his soul will rest in peace,” she said as she left St. Peter’s Square. “I felt very positive about him. I got good vibes from him and feel we received his blessing today” by visiting the Vatican.

Missionary Franciscan Sister Eliana, from Mozambique, came to St. Peter’s Square with another member of her community to pray the rosary for Pope Francis.

“Pope Francis, for me, was a man of hope, full of joy, full of life,” she said.

Franciscan Father Antanas Grabnickas said the news “was so terrible.”

“I left Lithuania on a bus last night and arrived in Rome this morning to this sad news,” said the priest, who was waiting for the arrival of 15 young people he was leading on a pilgrimage that was supposed to culminate in the canonization April 27 of Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager.

Instead, with Pope Francis’s death, the canonization has been postponed.

“Pope Francis loved St. Francis,” the friar said. “He showed this by choosing his name and by always speaking with his actions more than his words.”

And, like St. Francis, he said, the pope lived a simple life and spoke with simple words, “which help us get close to God.”

Someone had left a bouquet of spring flowers in St. Peter’s Square with a note: “Dearest Holy Father, Thank you for your service to our Lord and His Holy Church. We pray for your soul!!”

The card was signed, “From Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama.”

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