‘It came as such a shock to so many’: Pope Francis’ death leaves believers

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00:00Now, while the sun is slowly setting behind the cupola and behind me, you can see the faithful tourists.

00:07It's Easter Sunday, Monday. It is a public holiday, so people are heading towards St. Peter's Square.

00:13The mood in the square is still one of confusion as to what has happened today,

00:18slowly sinking in that the Pope is effectively gone and also perhaps a celebration of his life.

00:25Now, I've spoken to people here. There was a family, an Italian family, a Roman family.

00:31They were actually out of town taking advantage of this Easter weekend.

00:35And they said when they heard the news, they just felt they had to come back.

00:39They had to be here. The feeling that you have to be close to the place where it's happened.

00:44And as you mentioned, there will be a rosary prayer this evening.

00:48It will be a chance for the faithful to come together.

00:51It's like when there's a death in the family. People need to gather, to mourn, to remember.

00:57And that is exactly what will be happening at St. Peter's Square, just next to me.

01:02On top of that, there will be a service at another basilica here in Rome, St. John the Lateran,

01:09one of the four main basilicas of Rome.

01:11There will be a service there at 7 p.m. local time, also to remember the Pope.

01:16And then at 8 p.m., the Vatican has informed us that the body of the Pope will be placed inside a coffin.

01:23And hopefully we will then, possibly it will be examined as well.

01:27And then we'll have a clearer idea of actually what is the cause of death.

01:31Now, Italian newspapers have been suggesting that it could have been a stroke.

01:35We don't know the exact way in which he passed.

01:40We will have to wait for the Vatican to give us the details.

01:44So clearly, an emotional day, an Easter Monday, if you like, to remember, considering what happened on Sunday.

01:53I think that's why it came as such a shock for so many, to see him so much with the faithful,

01:59to see him at the balcony, to see him push through, to participate in Easter Sunday,

02:04a very important celebration in the Catholic Church, and then on Monday to get this news that at 7.35 in the morning, he did die.

02:16A shock, you say, Seema.

02:18At the same time, as we saw in that report, 38 days in hospital and all coming in what is a jubilee year

02:27with more pilgrims than usual at the Vatican and now on an Easter weekend.

02:34Exactly. I mean, it's a jubilee year, so you have an additional thousands of pilgrims coming in,

02:39and obviously they would come for Easter, and that's why you see so many people around.

02:45I spoke to an American couple who had just flown in today, and they were shocked to hear this news.

02:51But they, too, came down here to see what is happening.

02:55The world's media is present, all quite shocked by what happened.

02:59But you're right. I mean, he was 88 years old.

03:02He did spend five weeks in hospital dealing with double pneumonia, an ailment that would hit anyone,

03:11let alone someone who's 88 years old and is a young man, even had part of his lung removed.

03:17So to see all of that and how he pushed through, the doctors had informed journalists

03:22that there were two occasions during his hospitalisation where he actually risked to die.

03:27And we also even got details of how he, at one point, even choked on his vomit as he tried to breathe.

03:34We did see him using those nasal tubes in order to help with his breathing.

03:39We know that he was getting the respiratory physiotherapy at the Santa Mata Hotel where he resides.

03:47But clearly, it was all a little bit too much.

03:51In fact, one person told me when she heard the news of his death, perhaps he might have overdone it a little on Sunday.

03:59Of course, we'll never know.

04:01But clearly, it was important to him, this very determined pontiff, to be close to the faithful,

04:06to be close to the people that he cared for.

04:08Thank you very much.

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