'We all felt he was our grandfather': crowds throng Rome for final farewell

As the faithful lined the streets for a solemn if sometimes festive spectacle, cheers met mentions of Francis's concern for refugees,

- Tobias Jones

Soon after sunrise in Rome yesterday, cardinals, bishops, friars, nuns and priests were speed-walking towards St Peter's basilica. Police escorts were guiding blacked-out limos in the same direction.

Ancient Rome used to style itself “Roma caput mundi”, the “centre of the world”, and it felt like that way again as 170 national delegations, including heads of state and royal representatives, gathered for the funeral of pope Francis.

The security had been ramping up all week. The undercarriages of cars parked outside embassies were constantly inspected with lollipop mirrors. We got used to seeing officers with anti-drone bazookas so chunky they looked like a child’s Nerf gun. The security checks to get close to St Peter’s for the funeral were as stringent as at any airport: foldable chairs and water bottles were confiscated and ushers shouted at pilgrims trying to hurdle the barriers or duck the yellow-and-red ribbons. By 8am there were close to a hundred thousand onlookers packing the Via della Conciliazione, the long avenue that leads to St Peter’s.