Jo McKenna: Italy Correspondent on the death of Pope Francis

Heavily choreographed proceedings are now in motion, following the death of the Pope. 

The leader of the Catholic Church has died overnight at the age of 88 following a battle with double pneumonia. 

Later this week, the Pope will lie in state in St Peters Basilica for several days for the public to pay their respects. 

Italy Correspondent Jo McKenna is at St Peters' Square, and told Francesca Rudkin another ritual will be held in the coming hours, inside his apartment. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The world has been mourning the death of Pope Francis,
who died overnight at the age of eighty eight. He
was the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
And it comes as a shock as just the day before,
on Easter Sunday, the Pope had greeted a crowd of
tens of thousands at the East Sunday Mass and the
Vatican Right. Rome correspondent Joe mckinnaitt has the latest for us.

(00:27):
She joins us, Now, are you there, Joe, We'll just.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Get rid of here, yes, se can you me okay.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, I can. Where are you There's a lot of
bustle around you. Are you out and amongst the people?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, good morning, Francesca. I'm at the Vatican right now,
and thousands of people are pouring into Saint Peter's Square
as we speak for a special rosary in memory of
Pope Francis. People are shocked and shaken, as you can imagine,
just a day after seeing him in this same square
greet the faithful and blessing everyone for Easter Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
It has been a shock. Even though we know he
hasn't been well, his health seemed to be improving.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, after thirty eight days in hospital and some very
dangerous moments there where the doctor said they almost lost him.
There were hopes that he would recover, but as we
probably as you probably saw, you know, he was looking
very weak and frail, and his voice was struggling. I
think we still saw that he was struggling to get

(01:32):
over that double pneumonia. And in a short time tonight
we're about to learn what the cause of death was.
There was speculation that he died of a stroke overnight,
but some other speculations suggesting that it might have been
a pulmonary embolism. So just waiting for some results from
the Vatican on that tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, how much of an impact did Pope Francis have,
not just on the Catholic Church, but the whole world. Joe, look,
I think go back.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
To that first night Francesco I was here in the
square when he was elected twenty thirteen, and he set
the tone immediately with his informality, his friendliness. And then
soon after that his first official visit, which many people
may not remember, was to the island of Lamp Producer

(02:20):
off the coast of Sicily, where he wanted to reach
out to all those migrants who were struggling to make
the voyage across the Mediterranean, so really about informality reaching
out to the poor and the underprivileged. He took a
strong stand on climate change and saving the planet, and

(02:41):
was really against the trappings of capitalism, status and all
those things that we all get caught up in consumerism
and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
And we can see that, can't we, Just in the
way that he's decided to have his public viewing at
the Basilica. You know, he doesn't want he wants to
be in the cough and he doesn't want to be
on a raised podium. He wants to keep it simple.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I think that's a very good message. And he
doesn't want to be buried at the Vatican like many
other popes. He has chosen his burial place in a
basilica on the other side of Rome called Saint Mary Major,
where he would often go and say a prayer to
the Madonna before he went traveling on his overseas trips,

(03:27):
many many overseas trips to faraway places from including Iraq,
the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and again emphasizing that outreach
that he felt so strongly about.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Joe.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
What happens now, So tonight there will be a ritual
inside his apartment inside the Vatican, the Coza Marta apartment
where he lived. They will, I think, smash the ring
and seal his room, and then his body will be

(04:01):
moved into a coffin and moved into the Basilica, probably
Wednesday morning, and he will lie in state fare and
hundreds of thousands of people are expected to come into Rome.
I think we'll see the sort of reaction that we
saw with Pope John Paul's funeral way back in two

(04:22):
thousand and five. People will come from all over the
world for this viewing. Then the funeral is likely to
be held Friday or Sunday next weekend. Then there'll be
a break, There'll be days of several days of morning,
and then the conclave will begin inside the Systeine Chapel
to elect the new Pope.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Joe mckinna, thank you so much for your time. Really
appreciate this morning. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
listen live to News Talks it be from five am weekdays,
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