What it was like seeing the open coffin of Pope Francis

Published

3 months ago

April 23, 2025

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

World

Israeli military announces ‘tactical pause’ in fighting in parts of Gaza amid hunger crisis

Published

1 hour ago

July 27, 2025

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Israeli military announces 'tactical pause' in fighting in parts of Gaza amid hunger crisis

Israel has begun a pause in fighting in three areas of Gaza to address the worsening humanitarian situation.

The IDF said it would halt fighting in three areas, Muwasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, from 10am to 8pm local time until further notice, beginning today.

In a statement, the IDF said it would also establish secure routes to help the UN and aid agencies deliver food and other supplies.

Israel’s announcement of what it calls a “tactical pause” in fighting comes after it resumed airdrops of aid into Gaza.

While the IDF reiterated claims there is “no starvation” in Gaza, it said the airdrops would include “seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food to be provided by international organisations”.

Reports suggest aid has already been dropped into Gaza, with some injured after fighting broke out.

In other developments, Bob Geldof has accused Israeli authorities of “lying” about starvation in the territory – telling Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the IDF is “dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers”.

He told Sky News: “This month, up to now, 1,000 children or 1,000 people have died of starvation. I’m really not interested in what either of these sides are saying.”

Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March. It then reopened aid centres with new restrictions in May, but said the supply had to be controlled to prevent it from being stolen by Hamas militants.

On Saturday, reports referencing US government data said there was no evidence Hamas had stolen aid from UN agencies.

The IDF’s international spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, described such reports as “fake news” and said Hamas thefts have been “well documented”.

Airdrops ‘expensive and inefficient’

It comes as the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said as of Saturday, 127 people have died from malnutrition-related causes, including 85 children.

They include a five-month-old girl who weighed less than when she was born, with a doctor at Nasser Hospital describing it as a case of “severe, severe starvation”.

Health workers have also been weakened by hunger, with some putting themselves on IV drips so they can keep treating badly malnourished patients.

On Friday, Israel said it would allow foreign countries to airdrop aid into Gaza – but the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has warned this will not reverse “deepening starvation”.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini described the method as “expensive” and “inefficient”, adding: “It is a distraction and screensmoke. A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will.

“Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.”

UNRWA has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt waiting for permission to enter Gaza, he added.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, warned on Friday that 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, and said the lack of food and water on the ground was “unconscionable”.

The UN also estimates Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food, the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has also previously disputed these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

World

Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of ‘lying’ about starvation in Gaza

Published

4 hours ago

July 27, 2025

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Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of 'lying' about starvation in Gaza

Bob Geldof has accused the Israeli authorities of “lying” about starvation in Gaza – after Israel’s government spokesperson claimed there was “no famine caused by Israel”.

Earlier this week, David Mencer claimed that Hamas “starves its own people” while on The News Hour with Mark Austin, denying that Israel was responsible for mass hunger in Gaza.

Appearing on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Geldof said the claims are false.

Follow latest: Gaza aid airdrops a ‘smokescreen’ and ‘distraction’

Sir Trevor asked the Live Aid organiser: “The Israeli view is that there is no famine caused by Israel, there’s a manmade shortage, but it’s been engineered by Hamas.

“I guess the Israelis would say we don’t see much criticism from your side of Hamas.”

In response, Geldof said “that’s a false equivalence” and “the Israeli authorities are lying”.

The singer then added: “They’re lying. [Benjamin] Netanyahu lies, is a liar. The IDF are lying. They’re dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers.

“And while they arrive to accept the tiny amount of food that this sort of set up pantomime outfit, the Gaza Humanitarian Front, I would call it, as they dangle it, then they’re shot wantonly.

“This month, up to now, 1,000 children or 1,000 people have died of starvation. I’m really not interested in what either of these sides are saying.”

He added: “If the newsfeeds and social feeds weren’t so censored in Israel, I imagine that the Israeli people would not permit what has been done in their name.”

Asked about the UK government’s reaction, Geldof said it was “not enough”.

“This is a distraction thing about ‘let’s recognise the state ‘ – absolutely, it should have been done ages ago, but it’s not going to make any material difference,” he said, referring to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to recognise Palestine as a state.

In the Sky News interview earlier this week, Mr Mencer added: “This suffering exists because Hamas made it so. Here are the facts. Aid is flowing, through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Millions of meals are being delivered directly to civilians.”

He also claimed that, since May, more than 4,400 aid trucks had entered Gaza carrying supplies.

It comes after MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished.

The charity said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels, and said that at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks.

MSF then described the lack of food and water on the ground “unconscionable”.

In a statement to Sky News, an Israeli security official said that “despite the false claims that are being spread, the State of Israel does not limit the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip”.

It then blamed other groups for issues delivering aid. They said: “Over the past month, we have witnessed a significant decline in the collection of aid from the crossings into the Gaza Strip by international aid organisations.

“The delays in collection by the UN and international organisations harm the situation and the food security of Gaza’s residents.”

The IDF also told Sky News: “The IDF allows the American civilian organisation (GHF) to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip.

“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned.

“The aforementioned incidents are under review by the competent authorities in the IDF.”

World

‘I still have hope’: Parents of IDF soldier taken hostage by Hamas fear he’ll be one of last freed

Published

4 hours ago

July 27, 2025

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'I still have hope': Parents of IDF soldier taken hostage by Hamas fear he'll be one of last freed

Yehuda searches through a downstairs room looking for a plastic bag containing the most precious of objects.

It’s a small, blackened Rubik’s Cube that belongs to Yehuda’s son Nimrod – one of 20 living Israeli hostages still being held by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

It was found in Nimrod’s burnt-out tank after the October 7th attacks.

“He likes PlayStation and Rubik’s Cube,” says Nimrod’s mother, Vicky.

“They found the Rubik’s Cube in the tank. It was complete but a little bit dark and they brought it back to us.”

We spoke to Nimrod’s parents Yehuda and Vicky about the emotional rollercoaster hostage families in Israel are going through – as hope rises and fades of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

“I still have hope that maybe I will see Nimrod again,” says Vicky.

“It almost breaks my heart because I still had expectation,” she says – in spite of the latest failure to find resolution in talks between Israel and Hamas in Doha.

“But I still have hope that maybe something good will happen,” she says.

Vicky says: “We heard [during] the last weeks, President Trump saying we will hear about a ceasefire soon – next week – in a few days.

“We heard our prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] say visiting Washington and meeting Trump was very successful – and heard members of the coalition talking about our prime minister eventually understanding he needs to end the war. But until now nothing.”

The delegation coming back to Israel doesn’t mean a total collapse of ceasefire talks, but US envoy Steve Witkoff said the response to the latest ceasefire proposals by Hamas showed “a lack of desire”.

And so the rollercoaster of emotion for the hostage families continues.

Middle East latest: Gaza aid airdrops a ‘smokescreen’

Nimrod’s father Yehuda Cohen said: “Of course it’s a disappointment but it’s not the first one. A long time ago I learned not to get my expectations up so the disappointment won’t be too deep.

“The solution is very simple – I’ve got it on my shirt – ceasefire and hostage deal. Meaning the only way to get all the hostages is ending the war.”

Yehuda shows us Nimrod’s bedroom at the family home. It’s exactly as it was when Nimrod left to return to his army duties a few days before the October 7 attacks.

Except in a corner, there’s a box of uniforms and personal possessions, including a wallet which Nimrod had left at his army outpost – all returned to the family by the IDF.

It’s just like the bedroom of any other teenager – Nimrod was 19 when he was kidnapped. But two birthdays have passed since then. Nimrod is 21 now – a milestone spent in captivity a few weeks ago.

It’s believed there are 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza – all male – and that Hamas is holding the bodies of 27 more hostages who have been killed.

But even if a deal is agreed, the first phase is expected to secure the release of only half of the living hostages – and Nimrod’s parents say their son, as a soldier, is not likely to be one of the 10.

Yehuda says: “A partial deal means that the probability my son will be on that list is close to zero. So he’s going to be one of the last ones to be released, and that’s why we have to fight.”