For most of the duration of the near 90-minute funeral of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis remained stationary, seated facing the cypress coffin of his predecessor.
But at the close, when the pallbearers arrived to cheers, claps and some shouts of ‘Viva Papa’ and ‘Saint immediately’ from the tens of thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square, hoisting the coffin to their shoulders, the two popes began to move in parallel.
Benedict in his coffin on his final mortal journey towards the basilica under which he will be laid to rest. And Pope Francis, frail and aided, along a ramp with his cane, towards the front of the basilica.
