The first night without Pope Francis, the faithful: “Unable to forget his words against the” globalization of indifference “”

It is the first night without Pope Francis. While in the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano the first mass was celebrated in his suffrage, Rome seemed to turn on a more tenuous light, as if not to disturb that moment of recollection. Meanwhile, in San Pietro, thousands of pilgrims arrived to pray, for the vigil. With the light of sunset, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, chaired the celebration of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano to the Basilica, remembering the pontiff as “Witness of the Gospel, merciful shepherd, prophet of peace”. In his homily, he underlined that “the Easter Aurora envelops the passage of our bishop Pope Francis from this world to the Father”.

Under the high times of the basilica, between the ancient columns and the light of the candles, the faces of the faithful spoke more than a thousand words. There were those who squeezed a rosary in their hands, those who cried in silence, those who looked towards the altar with eyes at times lost. “The teaching that I will never forget are his words against the globalization of indifference. And when he said: “Who am I to judge?”says Giulia shortly before entering the Basilica for the celebration. “It’s like losing a father. But it is as if he was still with us “adds Maria, who came from Ostia with her husband. Among the faithful who follow the celebration in San Giovanni there are also many young people. They are shy, absorbed in silence. silent, absorbed. For some, he is the only Pope never known.

Sitting among the desks there is also the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, who arrived to express his condolence. “It was the pope who arrived from the last and the last. Came from the end of the world “says Stella in tears. “It was a revolutionary. It worries me to think about the empty place that he left and who will come after him ». In the silence of this first night without Pope Francis, his inheritance feels strong: that of a pontiff who has chosen to speak to many. And he succeeded.