He arrived the day before, slept outside on the square in front of the Vatican and was eventually rewarded with a place in front of the funeral of Pope Francis. Jeroen Goosen of the diocese of Den Bosch was in Vatican City on Saturday morning to pay the last honor to a Pope he admired. “I had a huge urge to be there, he was really our pope.”
“When this pope was elected I was in the front row,” says Goosen. “So now I also wanted to be there to experience the last chapter.” On Friday evening at eleven o’clock he arrived in Vatican City, directly from the Netherlands. “We were dropped off on Sint-Pieterplein, an hour later the cleaning started there and we were taken to another square to wait there.”
In fact, Jeroen would only arrive on Saturday with 150 other pilgrims. Years ago a pilgrimage to Rome was planned from the diocese of Den Bosch. But when he heard the news of the death of the Pope on Monday morning, Jeroen made another flight to be at the funeral.
“I was only able to doify for an hour.”
“There were hundreds of people and they went through the night praying and singing. The massiveness was huge,” says Goosen. “Everywhere beautiful ecclesiastical songs sounded in all kinds of languages. I actually stayed awake all night and I was only able to doze off for an hour.”
But in the end it was time, the gates of the Vatican opened and Goosen was allowed in. “The crowd was pushed in around six in the morning.” He laughs: “Well, in the most respectful way, I never had the idea that I would be oppressed.”
In the end, Jeroen managed to get a place in front. “I am happy that I did not come later. The line with looking people stood all the way to the Tiber river, then I could only have watched a screen.”
“There were many world leaders present,” he says. “When President Trump sustained the square, you noticed that it became quiet. When the Ukrainian president Zensky came by, loud applause sounded.”
“Everyone belonged and he wanted to enter into dialogue with other religions.”
According to Jeroen, it is not surprising that so many dignitaries traveled to the Vatican. According to him, Pope Francis was a ecclesiastical leader who wanted to make the church important internationally.
“Everyone belonged and he also wanted to start a conversation with other religions,” says Jeroen. “This pope also wanted us to treat the earth sustainably so that we can pass it on to the next generation in a good way.”
“It was a special celebration,” Jeroen emphasizes. “The Catholic Church is one with many traditions and they came together nicely. Everyone came to the square to celebrate the pope of the people.”
“On his funeral it felt like everyone belonged to one world church. All brothers and sisters.”
The conclave starts on 5 May where a new pope is chosen. Goosen mainly hopes that the new Pope will continue the line that Francis has deployed. “As the pope himself said, Todos, Todos, Todos. That is Portuguese and Spanish for everyone, everyone, everyone. Everyone belongs. On his funeral it felt like everyone who was there belonged to one world church. All brothers and sisters.”
Although Francis was a progressive leader for papal concepts, there are several successor candidates who are not. Goosen is not worried about this. “I hope that his line will be continued, but who knows, that progress must be tempered first,” he says. “In any case, the Holy Spirit will point out the right pope at the conclave, I have every confidence in that.”
