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WATCH: Pope Francis embarks on final journey to Santa Maria Maggiore in the Popemobile
Apr 26, 2025
Pope Francis embarks on his final journey to his final resting place in Santa Maria Maggiore in the Popemobile.Mourners lined the streets of Rome to pay their respects as the late pontiff made his final journey.WATCH ABOVE.
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0:00
British consciousness
0:02
Well, I think it's been pretty well covered and very generously, and it's difficult to sort of, you know
0:08
nothing's jumped out of the page, as it were, sort of, you know, God hasn't been said
0:12
But I think, you know, one of the extraordinary things, and I obviously experienced it at a personal level
0:18
is how France, despite being a huge global spiritual figure who spoke truth to power
0:26
who met all sorts of heads of state. There's so many, so many personal anecdotes of individuals
0:36
who were touched by him on an individual basis. And I speak to you as someone who had that experience
0:42
because on my 40th anniversary, I went with my wife and I had a kind of private audience with him
0:49
And I'll never forget, he took our hands and just looked at us with that extraordinary face of his
0:58
which full of light, full of engagement, full of compassion. And he just asked us straight away
1:07
which of you has been most patient? Well, I mean, what kind of better phrase to address
1:14
to anyone who's been married with all its ups and downs to ask which of you has been more patient
1:20
Which left both my wife and I absolutely gobsmacked And, of course, we were both sort of trying to point at each other
1:26
in a moment of generosity, which obviously he wanted to elicit from us
1:32
But you have a lot of those stories, you know. He was particularly good with kids
1:38
I was once with him holding a baby because I was in the front row and there was a parent with a baby 20 rows behind who been throwing the baby almost like a kind of basket
1:50
over the heads of everyone. Finally, it landed in my arms just at the moment
1:55
when Pope Francis was going past. And I held the baby up and he ordered the Popemobile to stop
2:01
and he leaned over and he just touched the baby on the head
2:06
And I could see the faces of his parents sort of registering this moment
2:11
as something that they would never forget. Yeah, it's incredible. And, Jimmy, we're now seeing this adapted Popemobile
2:19
moving through the streets of Rome. And, Caroline, as you're just hearing from Jimmy
2:25
about how this Pope had a particularly special connection with people, it's no surprise to see the police having to line these streets
2:33
to hold back these deep crowds. No, it's not. And when Jimmy said this was very reminiscent
2:42
of the late Princess of Wales, Diana, that was the exact same thought came into my head
2:49
watching this footage. And it's actually, it's very new because this is the first Pope to be buried
2:58
outside of the Vatican in 120 years. And it seems strangely moving and fitting, even though it's outside Vatican protocols
3:11
because normally what happens is we have the papal funeral and then the burial is always
3:16
a very quiet and private affair. I mean, the Vatican does normally release pictures afterwards
3:21
and I should imagine that they, although the internment in St Mary Major will itself be
3:26
private, I imagine that they will be a private place
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