Under bright blue skies in St. Peter’s Square, tens of thousands of people flocked to the Vatican to say goodbye to Pope Francis on Saturday.
The beloved pontiff, the first Latin American pope in history, died earlier in the week at the age of 88.
The crowd included dozens of dignitaries, including heads of state and reigning monarchs.
Francis was a “pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals who presided over the liturgy.
After the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled to mark the end of the service, the pope’s coffin was driven slowly through the streets of Rome to his final resting place at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. About 150,000 people lined the 6-kilometer…
