MATTHEW YOUNG: 'I woke at 5am to be at the front of Pope's funeral - the silence inside was moving'

Nuns scurried in the dark at 5.30am, weary police manned security barriers and queues formed as the faithful made their bid to gain access to St Peter’s Square for the rare, historical event of a .

Shortly after 6am, worshippers, having filed through security, sprinted to get one of the 5,000 seats in prime location on the cobbles in front of the basilica. Within 20-minutes, all the seats were gone, and then the masses built backwards from the wooden, waist-high fences of the square to fill the iconic Via Della Conciliazione, the road which leads to the home of the .

We were near the front, with around 250,000 people standing behind us. As the moment drew closer, prayers were read out before the official funeral mass. Played over huge speakers, the words were echoed around this iconic, ancient arena, and worshippers responded in low, haunting tones.

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Security helicopters circled the Vatican, an official drone buzzed ahead and thousands of photographers focused their cameras from vantage points on top of the colonnade, awaiting the arrival of the most powerful people on Earth. The large screens fixed to archways of the plaza gave us a different perspective, showing aerial views of this awe-inspiring event.

Amid the chaos of the morning, the 4am starts, the jostling for position, somehow - a perfect congregation of around a quarter of a million people had gathered to witness this historic spectacle. On Friday, UK cardinal Vincent Nichols said that Rome and The Holy See are ‘geniuses’ at staging big events. “I think they’ve been doing it since the emperors ruled Rome,” he added.

With all eyes fixed up towards royalty and leaders in a location so cinematic it is hard to believe it is real, you could be mistaken for thinking they still did. Silence fell as dignitaries arrived, only pierced by the noise of seagulls flying above and the murmuring of a security helicopter’s propellers.

and Sir took their seats, as did US President and wife Melania. Applause was reserved for only one person, ’s .

Then there was complete stillness until 10.04am when images on the large screens showed Pope Francis’s coffin being brought from inside the basilica, and applause broke out once more. Holy hymns playing loudly across St Peter’s Square and all along the Via Della Conciliazione reached a crescendo as Francis’s coffin emerged and was placed in the altar at the top of the basilica’s steps.

There had been an air of excitement in the hours before the service as people of all ages and nationalities took their positions in anticipation. People slept in sleeping bags, sat huddled on the cobbles and ate snacks they had packed in preparation for the early start.

It felt like a festival, a celebration. But when his coffin was placed outside for this open air ceremony, the atmosphere changed. Worshippers looked on solemnly, some with their hands clasped, some with tears in their eyes.

Just six days earlier, near this very spot, Francis took his final tour of St Peter’s Square in the popemobile as he surprised crowds after a blessing from the basilica balcony. “Thank you for taking me back to the Square,” he later told his personal assistant.

Now, lying in his coffin in front of the masses, it was impossible not to be moved by what was taking place before our eyes. Francis’s eulogy was read by Giovanni Battista Re, 91, and applause frequently broke out in the crowd.

He described him as a “Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone”. He drew further applause when he recounted Francis’ constant concern for migrants, including when he celebrated Mass at the US-Mexico border and travelled to a refugee camp in Lesbos, , and brought 12 migrants home with him.

“The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open,” Re said. With world leaders sitting just yards away, Cardinal Re echoed Francis’s stance that war “results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, and schools.”

“War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” he read aloud. He said Francis frequently repeated: “Built Bridges, not walls.” It is perhaps ironic, then, that inside the Basilica of St Peter’s, before the service, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky had “productive” talks over the Ukraine-Russia war.

Maybe the “Pope of Peace” helped form a lifesaving bond from beyond the grave. Of all the hymns and prayers during the service, and the powerful eulogy, it was the silent moments that were the most moving.

The moments of reflection when pilgrims, who were celebrating the life of Francis, had a second to gather themselves and focus on the lonely, wooden coffin sat in front of the spectacular, towering basilica which was, at that point, the focal point of the entire world. “To see him here like that today - he’s gone,” said US student Madison Gifford, 20, who was also in the square just six days earlier when Francis made his surprise appearance.

“People here say ‘Papa’ for Pope, which we don’t say back home. But now, having been here four months, he felt like my papa, my dad. It’s so sad but also I’m privileged to have been here.” Worshippers in the seated areas of the square close to us received communion towards the end, before Francis’s coffin was picked up and slowly taken back inside the basilica following the near two-hours service.

Applause began as he was collected and the noise built steadily until reaching its apex as Pope Francis was carried back through the ornate doors of the church, and out of sight. Different nationalities’ flags were waved, including his native Argentinian, and signs were held aloft in Francis’s honour.

Some people were smiling, some were hugging, some were crying. It was a moving, emotional spectacle. For the thousands in this crowd, it was the last time they would see Francis. In yet another break in tradition, he decided to be buried away from The Vatican and instead at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in central Rome.

His coffin was driven the four miles in the popemobile through the streets of this historic city and in front of the Colosseum, past adoring crowds before being welcomed at his favourite church. Francis, known as the “Pope of the poor” for his work in helping the homeless and the disadvantaged, was watched into the church by around 40 marginalised people, including migrants he had previously met.

He was then buried in a private ceremony. Heads will soon turn to his successor when the ancient ritual of the Conclave takes place, which will see Cardinals elect a new Pontiff, likely in early May. Many catholics - particularly the ‘forgotten’ and younger members of society - want a Pope in the same vein to continue Francis’s work, while others would prefer to see a move towards a more traditional papacy.

Whichever way it goes, there was no mistaking the affection with which this Holy Father was held in St Peter’s Square today. From the old to the young, the quiet to the rowdy - one German couple arrived straight from a night out - it was a celebration where everybody was welcome.

As he was taken inside the St Peter’s Basilica and out of view of the crowd for one last time, a large flag was raised, held by schoolchildren and reading simply in his native Spanish: “Adios Padre, Maestro y Poeta” - goodbye father, teacher and poet.