On April 21, 2025, Pope Francis passed away at age 88 due to health issues.

A friend of mine, Jordan Cook, along with 24 pilgrims from St. Thomas More Parish in Scranton, were scheduled to leave that same morning for a trip to Rome.

The journey originally was to view the body of Carlo Acutis, who had been scheduled to be canonized a saint by the church while the pilgrims were to be in Rome. The trip also included a visit to Assisi (St. Francis and St. Clare), Sienna (St. Catherine), Monte Cassino (St. Benedict and St. Scholastica) and Loreto (the Holy House).

Additionally, the trip was to include an audience with Pope Francis on the Wednesday of that week.

Instead, the pilgrims joined the line of people in the Vatican to view Pope Francis’ body lying in state and to pray for him and his eventual successor.

Jordan gave this account:

“About half of our group was among the many thousands of people who had come from near and far, some from as far as America, South Korea, Rwanda and Poland. I was in line for only about an hour, though some in our group joined the line shortly after and ended up waiting about four hours. There were rumors of some standing in line for over six hours.

“After entering St. Peter’s Basilica through the Holy Door, opened in December by the late pontiff himself, we processed slowly forward toward the baldacchino (the bronze canopy over the altar). When coming close to the humble wooden casket, Vatican police were informing the mourners that no pictures were allowed up close at the casket. Four Swiss guards stood at attention and ready to defend the body of the late pope.

“The sick, the elderly, the young, people of all races, colors and backgrounds came to say goodbye to a man that stands as Christ’s Vicar on Earth, handed down through the centuries originating from St. Peter himself.

“A title that has fallen out of usage today is that of ‘Father of Kings,’ evident when world leaders throughout the world would go and visit the pope, even in death, as we saw with presidents (Donald) Trump, (Emmanuel) Macron and (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy.”