WATCH: Andrew Pierce speaks passionately about ‘spiritually uplifting’ Vatican City scenes of celebration

GB News

GB News star Andrew Pierce has spoken about the “spiritually uplifting” scenes from the Vatican City.White smoke has risen from the Sistine Chapel, indicating a successful election and a new pope.Speaking to Martin Daubney on GB News, he said: “It’s just huge. He’s the vicar of Christ. He is our papa. Our Holy Father.“Pope Francis’s departure couldn’t have been better choreographed - I wasn’t sad at all. I thought it was wonderful.“He died on Easter Monday when Churches were all adorned with flowers. He did his Easter Blessing the day before which probably put a huge strain on his body and possibly triggered his death.“I thought it was a wonderful departure for him. I found it really spiritually uplifting and I went to a wonderful service at Westminster Cathedral on the same day.”

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00:00Talk us through the significance, the emotions that are being felt now by the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

00:07Oh, it's just huge. It's because he's the Vicar of Christ. That's one of his many titles.

00:13He's our Papa. He's our Holy Father.

00:16And I thought that Pope Francis's departure, his death, couldn't have been better choreographed.

00:24I wasn't sad at all. I thought it was wonderful.

00:26He died at Easter. He died on Easter Monday when the churches were still adorned with flowers, which were all to do with the resurrection.

00:33He'd done his Easter blessing the day before, which was probably put such a huge strain on his body.

00:39It probably did trigger his possibly triggered his death the next day.

00:43So I thought that was a wonderful departure for him and for the Catholic Church.

00:48And it was I found it really spiritually uplifting.

00:50And I went to a wonderful service at Westminster Cathedral on the same day.

00:54And Cardinal Vince Nicholls presided over that service.

00:58And of course, he is in the Sistine Chapel, along with two other British cardinals.

01:02I don't think we've ever had three British cardinals in the conclave before.

01:07And they have chosen our Holy Father.

01:09It is it's like our monarch.

01:11And that we they are an important spiritual leader.

01:15I think the pope is the most important spiritual leader on the planet.

01:20As I say, he is the vicar of Christ.

01:22He's God's representative on Earth.

01:24He is a direct successor to St. Peter, who was the first pope.

01:28That's why it is not just hugely symbolic.

01:31It's absolutely enriched with tradition and history.

01:35And whoever that pope is, it's a huge, huge burden.

01:39And largely in my lifetime, they've done it pretty, pretty well.

01:44All sorts of challenges.

01:45And I also like the fact, Martin, that our pope has been chosen on victory in Europe Day.

01:50Vatican City, of course, was neutral during the Second World War.

01:53There was some criticism that the pope at the time was too close to the Nazis.

01:56But subsequently in history, it's just we now discover that, in fact, the pope was helping,

02:02helping get people out of the Vatican, out of Italy, doing his bit quietly behind the scenes.

02:09So I think that's quite significant because, of course, Italy had its own very checkered role in the Second World War.

02:15And it means we're never going to forget the day the new pope, the 267th pope, was elected

02:21because it was the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe Day.

02:23What a symbolic day, Martin.

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