Marcoses among 170 leaders, 250,000 mourners at Vatican

FOR PEOPLE’S POPE President Marcos and first lady Liza Araneta Marcos arrive for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Saturday. —AP

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos and first lady Liza Araneta Marcos joined some 170 other world leaders and dignitaries, including US President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, for the funeral of Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Saturday.

Photos released by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) showed the first couple meeting with Trump and as well his predecessor Joe Biden, who also came with his wife, Jill.

The leaders of Britain, France, Gabon, Germany, Italy, Poland and the pope’s native country of Argentina also attended the funeral, as did William, the Prince of Wales, and other European royals.

READ: Francis’ funeral to be grand farewell to ‘pope of the poor’

‘Energy, despair’

An estimated 250,000 mourners turned up at the Vatican, many camping out to try and secure spots at the front of the crowd for the ceremony.

“We had been waiting all night,” said Spanish pilgrim Maria Fierro. “Accompanying [Francis] in his last moments is very emotional.”

Mary James, a Franciscan nun, also waited overnight. “We want to say goodbye because he [was a] living saint, very humble and simple,” she said.

Eduardo Valencia of Mexico said “You can feel a lot of energy, yes, a little bit of despair because we are tired, but ultimately we want to come and say ‘thank you,’ thanks to Pope Francis for all he did for his church.”

The first non-European pope for almost 13 centuries, Francis battled to reshape the Roman Catholic Church during his 12-year reign, siding with the poor and marginalized, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and reverse climate change.

Break with tradition

The Pope shunned much of the pomp and privilege usually associated with the papacy and carried that desire for greater simplicity into his funeral, having rewritten the elaborate, book-long funeral rites used previously.

Francis also opted to forego a centuries-old practice of burying popes in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, he has been placed in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin, which was sealed closed overnight.

In a further break with tradition, he will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, some 5.5 kilometers from St. Peter’s, as his final resting place. —with a report from Julie M. Aurelio