Roscommon people pay their respects in Rome to late Pope

A number of Roscommon people were among the hundreds of thousands of people who paid their respects to the late Pope Francis in Rome last weekend.

Mary Dunne and Seán Creaton from Lisacul were in Rome for four days. 

We met just after the President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina had been in to St Peter’s Basilica to pay their personal respects to the remains of Pope Francis.  

“We just got a present from my daughter. She was due to make the trip and she couldn’t, so she gave it to us and we just had word that we were coming and the Pope died,”  said Mary.

They had already seen the remains of Pope Francis in St Peter’s by the time we met on Friday. “It was amazing, absolutely amazing. I couldn’t believe we got through so handy,” she said.

“It was just an hour, at about 12 o’clock,” said Seán, who had been to Knock when Pope Francis visited there in 2018.

“I liked him as a Pope, I liked him as a person,” he said.

Mary thought Francis was “a lovely Pope. He must have been really good because of the crowds that are here.” 

Mary’s sister Eileen McKeown "worked with Michael D in the Áras for years and she only retired last year".

As to who the next Pope might be, Seán said: “Of course it’s not up to me but I really don’t know because when they have a favourite, normally the favourite doesn’t win.”

He would prefer the new Pope to be traditional rather than liberal. 

Mary feels a new Pope similar to Francis would be “fine, if he was to do what he did.”