Communion of the Church on display as faithful from around world gather in Rome to mourn Pope Francis, say local pilgrims
ROME — Fr. David Pellican said he experienced the complete universality of the Catholic Church during Pope Francis’ funeral, standing in the square at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 26.
Fr. Pellican, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit who is living in Rome while studying dogmatic sacramental theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum of San Anselmo, had the honor of being seated among the priests during the papal funeral.
He recalled looking around the piazza and witnessing what seemed to be the entire people of God paying their respects to the Church’s 266th pope.
“It was definitely a moment where you could just see and feel the universality of the Church, from all the people there from all the different nations coming together,” Fr. Pellican told Detroit Catholic via phone. “The pope is the head of the universal Church, and you could see that universality kind of incarnate before you at the funeral. I looked back a couple of times during the funeral, and not only was the piazza full, but the Via della Conciliazione, going back as far as I could see, was packed. It just struck me the sheer volume of prayers being offered for the pope at that moment.”
Fr. Pellican said there is a somber tone in the Eternal City.
The pope’s death wasn’t a complete surprise, given his recent monthlong hospitalization, but after seeing the Holy Father during the Easter celebrations, where his Easter message to the Church was read aloud by Archbishop Diego Ravelli before a crowd of 20,000 on Easter Sunday, Fr. Pellican said Rome has felt different since the pope's Easter Monday.
“I don’t know, but somehow just everything felt different that morning,” Fr. Pellican said. “I’ve never felt anything like that here, where literally everyone in this entire city, this big city, is going to the same place for the same purpose. Everyone in the city seemed to be on their way to the funeral, but it was so quiet. The Vatican didn’t seem quite so different that morning, even though I live just down the street.”
Before the funeral Mass, Fr. Pelican witnessed the entire mass of people in St. Peter’s Square stand and pray the rosary, and sing “Regina Caeli.”
“The pope had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother, so it just struck me as very significant that we were there praying for him, invoking the Queen of Heaven in that moment,” Fr. Pellican said. “Then there was this beautiful moment at the end of Mass, when the Eastern Catholic patriarch came out and prayed the funeral office of the Byzantine liturgy in Greek, and then another came out and prayed in Aramaic or Arabic, one of those Semitic languages, at the end. It was striking, and again, a beautiful sign of the universality of the Church.”
The pope's death on Easter Monday caused a change of plans during what is normally a joyous time in the Church, other pilgrims said.
Anna Fedor, an art and photography teacher at Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, was already in Italy on a pilgrimage with Gabriel Richard students and parents when she heard the news of Pope Francis’ death.
The group left Detroit on Holy Thursday and was heading toward Florence when the news broke. Fedor had been to Rome many times, where she had participated in Masses celebrated by St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis — she saw Pope Francis three times, twice in Rome and once in Mexico City.
So when the group arrived in Rome on April 23 to see the Colosseum and the Forum, she told the tour guide and the parents she would split from the group and head to St. Peter’s Basilica to see how close she could get to the public viewing of the pope’s body.
“I got out of the cab and the lines were just as long as they could be,” Fedor said. “I know it’s the jubilee, so Rome was already busy, but the pope just passing, and I was seeing all these reporters everywhere, in every language you can imagine being spoken, people of every color, and I was thinking, ‘Where is the end of the line? How do I get in?'”
A seasoned Vatican pilgrim, Fedor had a sense of where she needed to go, trying to work her way to the columns of St. Peter’s Square. But the mass of people, coupled with increased police presence, made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.
But then, for reasons Fedor can’t quite explain, she was shepherded into an area reserved for media photographers.
“It’s a miracle they let me through this press area. I’m a freelance press photographer and am familiar with how these things work, but I didn’t have a camera, didn’t have my credentials, but they must have thought I was somebody,” Fedor said. “And that got me a better perspective where I could see the front of the church, but I saw the line just kept winding.”
Fedor spoke to people standing in line for five hours to see the pope’s body. She didn’t have enough time, needing to get back to the tour group, but she was able to take in how people from every corner of the world gathered in Rome to witness a moment in Church history.
“I saw Capuchin friars, tourists from all over the world in line, a line that was endless and didn’t seem to move, and I thought, 'These people are dedicated.' It was hot out, in the high 70s; the sun was out,” Feder said. “I saw people with their rosaries in hand, praying. Families holding little babies, elderly people standing in line. I was thinking, 'My goodness, the people loved (Pope Francis) so much they were willing to stand there to say their final goodbyes.'”
The following day, one of Fedor's students broke away from the tour group after visiting the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum with his mother to see Pope Francis' coffin.
“He was just so thrilled,” Fedor said. “He said, ‘I know the pope is gone, but at least I got to pay my respects and pray for him in some capacity.’”
The Church is now in the midst of novendiales, the nine days of mourning for Pope Francis. Churches around the world are adorned with black bunting, special Masses for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul are being celebrated, and the faithful around the world are giving thanks for his service and ministry.
At the same time, there is already an anticipation in Rome about the upcoming conclave, set to begin May 7, as cardinals from around the world gather in Rome for general congregations to discuss matters of the Church before the formal discernment and election in the Sistine Chapel begins.
“I think all the commotion about the conclave has started while we are still mourning Pope Francis,” Fr. Pellican said. “We’re seeing more and more cardinals meeting one another. They are certainly still going to these Masses for Pope Francis, praying for him. The other day, they were at St. Mary Major for vespers, offering (prayers) to repose the soul of Pope Francis, and they met twice every day. It’s not the conclave yet, but they are meeting and talking about the Church's future and what might be important for the next pope and his mission.”
Feder said it was a true privilege to be in Rome and see a mass of people expressing their grief and respect for Pope Francis, reflecting on her own appreciation for the pontiff’s life.
She also knows it was a beautiful experience for her students to see Church history unfold before their eyes; a sign of how the local Church is very much connected to the Church universal.
“I’m very blessed as a teacher to take students on these trips so they can experience their faith and history,” Feder said. “God puts us through and allows us to have these experiences, to be in Rome during a time of sadness, but joy in knowing somebody else is going to be picked who will lead our faith.”
Fr. Pellican reflected on the seemingly paradoxical nature of the timing behind Pope Francis’ funeral, in the midst of the Easter season.
“There’s a sadness when someone passes away — there always is — but as Christians, we have hope in the resurrection,” Fr. Pellican said. “We prayed in the funeral liturgy, ‘Indeed, for your faithful Lord, life is changed, but not ended. And when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.’"
The Church knows Christ has already won the final victory over death, Fr. Pellican said, even as she lays her latest shepherd in the earth.
“These two themes go well together, mourning the death of the vicar of Christ on earth, the successor of Peter, while simultaneously celebrating the fact that the Lord came back from the grave and conquered death and gave us that pledge of eternal life,” Fr. Pellican said. “We saw that at the pope’s funeral, a full expression of faith, seeing both death and the resurrection as two sides of one reality.”
