Hundreds of thousands of Catholics in Rome, and many others across the world, paid their last respects on Saturday to the late Argentine Pope Francis, who died last week.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Jordan’s King Abdullah, the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister – a total of 12 kings, 52 heads of state and 14 prime ministers – came especially to attend the impressive ceremony held between Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Santa Maria Maggiore.

Canadians dotted throughout the crowds at St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’s funeral said the somewhat simple ceremony seemed a fitting farewell for the pontiff who saw himself as a pastor, not a monarch. While those who made it into the plaza in front of the famous basilica described a solemn and reverent audience, complete with dignitaries such as Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon, the masses outside Vatican City’s walls were abuzz. But in both spaces, mourners said Francis’s vision for the Catholic Church shone through. She said the late pope’s humility was evident in the funeral rites, which he simplified last year to reflect his view that the leader of the Catholic Church should not be assigned undue grandeur. Debnath, who became a Catholic in adulthood, bought her ticket to Rome within hours of hearing of Francis’s death on Monday. 

That desire was on full display Saturday. Dignitaries and heads of state, including Prince William and U.S. President Donald Trump, were present, but so too were prisoners and migrants, who welcomed Francis’s coffin at his final resting place in a basilica across town.

According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people attended the funeral in St. Peter’s Square and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century, as recent pontiffs have opted to be buried at the Vatican. Though the mood inside Vatican City was sombre, it was a “hive of activity” on the streets of Rome where Montreal’s Mirjam Guesgen watched the funeral on a large screen. She said she’s not religious, she was already on vacation in Rome when the pope died so she decided to attend. It seemed as though all of Rome had descended on the Vatican, she said, and by the time she and her partner made it there, St. Peter’s Square had already filled up.