When Jenna Drummond and Clair Volkening saw Pope Francis step onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to give his “urbi et orbi” (“to the city and to the world”) blessing April 20, they had no idea it would be his last.
“With every rustle of the curtain, people held their breaths, waiting to see him,” Drummond said. “When he did come out, I burst into tears. It felt like I was home.”
Volkening and Drummond, parishioners of the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, went on pilgrimage to Rome for the Triduum April 17-19. Easter Sunday, they gathered with thousands of Catholics in St. Peter’s Square, where unbeknownst to all, Pope Francis made his final appearance, drove around the square in his popemobile and gave his final blessing.
Volkening later journaled about the experience: “It felt like he cared for the world and also like he cared for every single one of us individually — like he loved and cared about me.”
The next day, they received news of the pope’s death. “We were about to head to the Vatican (that) morning to grab some treats and possibly go to Mass when I saw the news alert on my phone, and just screamed, ‘The pope is dead,’ ” Drummond remembered. “We just stood in shock.”
Catholics around the world met the news with grief — and confusion. Blessed Carlo Acutis’ canonization was scheduled for April 27, during the Jubilee of Teenagers April 25-27. Groups from around the world planned pilgrimages to Rome to attend the canonization.
One group included some 40 parishioners from several diocesan parishes, primarily Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester and Nativity Catholic Church in Burke.
Mia Schloemer, 15, a parishioner of Sacred Heart, had inspired Father Stephen M. Vaccaro, parochial vicar, to set up the pilgrimage for Acutis’ canonization. As her confirmation name, Acutis profoundly affected Mia’s spiritual life. “I just thought … how cool would it be to go to the canonization of your confirmation saint?” she said.
Not long after, Father Vaccaro learned about a pilgrimage opportunity to Rome for Acutis’ canonization through JMJ Tours, a Catholic tour company. “We had to make good on our word,” he said. With Alison Fram, director of Young Adult, Family and Social Action Ministries at Nativity, he organized a pilgrimage group of parishioners, including Mia and her father, Mark.
When news broke of the pope’s death, and subsequent postponement of Acutis’ canonization, the group was two days away from leaving for Italy. They decided to go anyway.
“The thing that first struck me was just how many people were there,” Fram said. Among the thousands who had traveled to Rome for the canonization were many international youth groups. Fram described the city’s atmosphere as almost jubilant, with the youths singing and chanting in the streets, “but then also you could feel the weight of it, the seriousness and a bit of the grief around the time of the pope’s funeral.”
The day after they landed, the group stood in line for hours to pay their respects to Pope Francis, as his body lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica. They managed to quickly file past and make their respects shortly after midnight April 25.
Mark Schloemer said their time in line was well spent. As they admired the beauty of the basilica, they prayed for loved ones back home. “We all have prayer intentions to bring from friends, family,” he said. “So, everywhere we go, we’re lifting up those prayer intentions.”
The day of the pope’s funeral, Father Vaccaro, Fram and several others woke up at 3 a.m. to claim seats in St. Peter’s Square that their tour guide had reserved at midnight at the front of the barricades. “We were as close as you could be without being clergy,” Fram said.
Meanwhile, Father Vaccaro, joined the thousands of clergy who would concelebrate the pope’s funeral. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many priests in my life,” he said. Surrounded by priests from Poland, Italy and Argentina before the Mass, Father Vaccaro did not hear a word of English, “but then, as soon as Mass started, because it was in Latin, all of us could pray the Mass.”
During the Mass, the pilgrims witnessed Eastern church representatives pray and chant by Pope Francis’ casket and world leaders reflect side-by-side in an unusual show of unity. “Some of those world leaders are literally at war with each other, and to think, what a visible sign of unity in the world,” Father Vaccaro said. “If his lasting legacy is his death, bringing the entire world to its knees to pray and to put aside war, uniting religions, uniting enemies, and bringing all the nationalities and all the cultures together at the Mass — well, he did a good job.”
Fram said praying at the funeral was more than a historic moment. She recalled a favorite video of Pope Francis greeting the faithful at an event; he stopped mingling for an extended time to hold and comfort a little boy crying over his father’s death. “That’s just what Pope Francis taught me … you pause for the person in front of you,” Fram said. “I think being present for his funeral, I just felt like we were able to do that for him; we were able to pause and be present for him.”
The day after the funeral, Pasquale DiBari and his 20-year-old son with autism, Michael, attended Sunday Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where Pope Francis had been laid to rest. The two parishioners of St. Francis de Sales Church in Purcellville had been traveling throughout Italy since April 14. They headed to Rome for the Jubilee of Persons with Disabilities April 28-29, and were supposed to have a private audience with Pope Francis. When the news reached them of the pope’s death, Pasquale was saddened but not entirely surprised, given the pope’s poor health.
“We arrived when the pope was being transferred from St. Peter’s to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore,” he said.
When the DiBaris attended Sunday Mass at St. Mary Major, “they unveiled the tomb of Pope Francis, and a lot of people rushed over,” Pasquale said. The father and son still caught a glimpse of a replica of the pope’s pectoral cross, the tomb’s sole ornament.
Throughout their three-week pilgrimage, Michael wrote prayer intentions in a journal for family, friends, St. Francis de Sales parishioners and even strangers he met throughout Italy. He carried the journal through the Holy Doors of the Basilica of St. John Lateran April 30.
Pasquale said the city’s grief for the pope was palpable; nevertheless the Jubilee of Disabled Persons gave him and Michael hope. “We will pray for the cardinals, the college of cardinals. We pray that they enter into and remain in a state of grace through this conclave and select the vicar of Christ that is right for this time,” he said.
While the DiBaris and the other diocesan parishioners shared a rare experience of the unity of the global church, Father Vaccaro said his thoughts often returned home. “To think that … our group and a handful of other people represented the almost 500,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington — that was really special.”
