How to describe the moment when you see the open coffin of Pope Francis?
How to sum up an experience that was shared with many, but which felt so intimate? Fortunate, memorable, touching, and emotional. Above all, unique.
Well, let’s start at the beginning.
Image: People queuing to see the open coffin of Pope Francis use their phones to take pictures. Pic: AP
We, along with other members of the global media, were invited into the basilica by the Vatican in order to see the lines of people filing past the coffin; to bear witness to the emotions, the sounds. To this demonstration of faith.
As we start to walk over, we know we are the lucky ones.
The queue to get into the basilica stretches into the distance – there are people waiting eight hours for the chance to see the coffin.
By contrast, we are ushered in through a side door. We round a corner, walking against a tide of people, until we enter the huge, soaring chamber in which the Pope’s coffin lies in state.
A beam of sunshine is lighting up an imposing statue, created by the genius of Bernini and now looking down upon the Pope.
I can see Francis’s hands crossed on his chest. His coffin is large, resting on the floor, but it is not ostentatious. You can see the red cloth of his vestments.
Image: Pic: Reuters
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1:52
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It is one thing to be told that the Pope has died, but quite another to witness the proof. Perhaps that is why so many are queuing for this moment – to bring closure, as much as to offer thanks.
Setting glistens with gold
The setting is extraordinary.
St Peter’s Basilica is a simply astonishing building that glistens with gold and whose domed ceiling rises to the sky.
Francis wanted to eschew the extravagance of previous papal funerals, but there is no avoiding the splendour of his surroundings.
By his coffin, soaring up, is the huge canopy known as St Peter’s Baldachin, which covers the altar.
Beneath it, so Christians believe, is the tomb of St Peter. This is one of the holiest places in Christianity, and the Pope lies alongside it.
Around his coffin are four soldiers from the Swiss Guard, dressed in their familiar red, blue, and yellow uniforms.
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Image: The hand of the deceased Pope Francis. Pic: AP
No sense of rush
A rope runs around the coffin, marking off the area. There are a few seats on one side for notable dignitaries to use when paying their respects. On the other side is a space for senior members of the Catholic church to pray and give thanks.
As we watch, there are two cardinals using this space, including the Italian Matteo Zuppi, a contender to be the next pope. I can see his mouth moving in prayer, his head bowed.
The chamber is thronged with people, but there is no sense of rush.
The queue of people runs round the edge of half the room, but it is orderly, shuffling ever forward. And there is such a blend of people – nuns and priests, but also families dressed for a day in the sun, teenagers in football shirts, grandparents in their finery. Some come in black, others in suits, some in scruffy old T-shirts.
I see three nuns come past, followed by a young woman in jeans and a T-shirt. The nuns are smiling; the woman is sobbing. We learn it’s impossible to predict who will be affected most.
Image: Nuns from Spain and South America wait to see the body of Pope Francis. Pic: AP
You do not get to linger long at the front – maybe a few seconds – but it is an opportunity that divides.
Phones are a constant sight
Some make a cross; some offer a prayer; some take a selfie. Mobile phones are a constant sight. At any given moment, I can see dozens of them held in the air, capturing photos of the scene.
It’s hard to say whether these phones damage the mood, bruising the sombre sense of intimacy, or whether they add to the idea that this is as much about celebrating life as it is about bemoaning death. Maybe both can be true.
It is an emotional experience, whether you have faith or not. What is remarkable here is not the sight of Pope Francis’s coffin, not the hands arranged on his chest, nor the ceremony around St Peter’s.
What is extraordinary – and what will live with me – is that so many people are prepared to queue for hour after hour in the beating sun to quietly offer thanks to a man that hardly any of them had ever met, but many felt they knew.
Like the Queen before, what really matters is not the scene that people will see, but rather the fact that they are so desperate to come.
At least five people have been killed in a shooting in Jerusalem, authorities have confirmed.
Footage showed dozens of people fleeing from a bus stop during the morning rush hour.
Paramedics who responded to the scene said the area was chaotic and covered in broken glass, with people wounded and lying unconscious on the road and a pavement near the bus stop.
Police said two attackers were “neutralised” soon after.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now holding an assessment with his heads of security.
Image: A motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed. Pic: Reuters
Around 15 people were injured – with six in a serious condition – after it appeared two attackers boarded a bus and opened fire as it reached a major intersection at the northern entrance to Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.
Israeli Defense Force soldiers were dispatched and are searching the area for any other suspects. They are also searching several areas on the outskirts of Ramallah.
Image: The bus with bullet holes in the windscreen. Pic: Reuters
A spokesperson for Israeli emergency services, MDA, confirmed four deaths – a man about 50 years old and three men aged around 30.
The fifth victim, a woman about 50 years old, was confirmed at hospital.
Paramedics have evacuated from the scene other casualties in serious conditions with gunshot wounds, to hospitals in Jerusalem.
Several people with minor injuries from glass shards are being treated at the roadside.
The motive for the shooting and who carried it out, was not immediately clear.
The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel.
An Australian mother who murdered her estranged husband’s parents and aunt by feeding them a beef wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms has been jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years.
Erin Patterson, 50, lured her former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, also ate the meal, which was served alongside mashed potatoes and green beans, but survived after receiving a liver transplant and spending months in hospital.
Patterson, a mother-of-two, had made the pastry dish with deadly death cap mushrooms, also known as amanita phalloides.
At the sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Justice Christopher Beale said the substantial planning of the murders and Patterson’s lack of remorse meant her sentence should be lengthy.
“The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims. Your crimes have harmed a great many people,” he said.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.”
Image: Pic: AP
Patterson’s trial in Morwell, southern Australia, heard that she fabricated a cancer diagnosis to use as an excuse not to invite her children, pretending to want to discuss how to break the news to them after the meal.
The four guests fell ill immediately after eating her food. Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Patterson died on 4 August, and Mr Patterson a day later.
Reverend Wilkinson spent seven weeks in hospital but survived.
Image: Reverend Ian Wilkinson arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
In his victim impact statement, he said the poisoned food meant he had to have a liver transplant and was left feeling “half alive”.
Patterson, who maintains her innocence and that she poisoned her victims by accident, also invited the father of her children, Simon Patterson, to the fatal meal.
Image: Simon Patterson outside of court in May. Pic: AP
He declined the invitation.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Patterson said of the couple’s children: “The grim reality is they live in an irreparably broken home with only a solo parent, when almost everyone else knows their mother murdered their grandparents.”
In July, Patterson was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson.
What makes death cap mushrooms so lethal?
The death cap is one of the most toxic mushrooms on the planet and is involved in the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide.
The species contains three main groups of toxins: amatoxins, phallotoxins, and virotoxins.
From these, amatoxins are primarily responsible for the toxic effects in humans.
The alpha-amanitin amatoxin has been found to cause protein deficit and ultimately cell death, although other mechanisms are thought to be involved.
The liver is the main organ that fails due to the poison, but other organs are also affected, most notably the kidneys.
The effects usually begin after a short latent period and can include gastrointestinal disorders followed by jaundice, seizures, coma, and eventually, death.
Previous poisoning attempts left husband ill
Following the guilty verdicts, more details of the case were revealed.
Mr Patterson said he had rejected the lunch invite “out of fear” as he believed his former partner had tried to poison him three times before.
After they separated in 2015, he stopped eating any food she had prepared, having become seriously ill after meals cooked by her.
Image: Death cap mushrooms. Pic: iStock
Reverend Wilkinson also revealed he and the other three guests were served their food on large grey dinner plates, while Patterson served her portion on a smaller, tan-coloured plate.
The nine-week trial attracted intense interest in Australia – with podcasters, journalists and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, around two hours east of Melbourne, where the court hearings took place.
Donald Trump has said he is ready to move to a second stage of sanctioning Russia, just hours after Moscow launched the largest arial attack of the war so far.
At least four people have been killed, including a mother and a three-month-old baby, with more than 40 others injured, after Russia launched a bombardment of drones overnight.
While on his way to the final of the US Open tennis tournament, the president was asked if he was ready to move to the second stage of punishment for Moscow, to which he replied, “Yes”.
It echoes US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said additional economic pressure by the United States and Europe could prompt Putin to enter peace talks with Ukraine.
“We are prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us,” Treasury Secretary Scott told NBC News’ Meet the Press.
Sir Keir Starmer said the latest attack shows Vladimir Putin is “not serious about peace” as he joined other allies in condemning Russia’s actions.
The prime minister said the “brutal” and “cowardly” assault on Kyiv – which resulted in a government building catching fire – proved the Russian leader feels he can “act with impunity”.
Russia attacked Kyiv with 805 drones and decoys, officials said, and Ukraine shot down and neutralised 747 drones and four missiles, the country’s air force has said.
The attack caused a fire to break out at a key government building, with the sky above Kyiv covered in smoke.
Appeasement makes ‘no sense’
Polish premier Donald Tusk said the latest military onslaught showed any “attempts to appease” Putin make “no sense”.
“The US and Europe must together force Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire. We have all the instruments,” Mr Tusk said on Saturday.
Meanwhile the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the Kremlin was “mocking diplomacy”.
Vladimir Putin reportedly wants control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine – known as the Donbas – as a condition for ending the war.
Russia occupies around 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea and the parts of the Donbas region it seized before the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
But this attack comes after European nations pressed the Russian leader to work to end the war at a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of countries led by France and Britain seeking to help protect Kyiv in the event of a ceasefire.
Some 26 of Ukraine’s allies pledged to provide security guarantees as part of a “reassurance force” for the war-torn country once the fighting ends, Mr Macron has said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet Mr Putin to negotiate a peace agreement, and has urged US president Donald Trump to put punishing sanctions on Russia to push it to end the war.
Image: Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
“The world can force the Kremlin criminals to stop the killings – all that is needed is political will,” he said on Sunday.