Pope Francis served to the end (interview)
Camerlengo informed about death.
In the morning at Easter Monday Vatican reported death Pope Francis. Shortly before, on Easter Sunday, the Pope publicly spoke and blessed believers.
Martin Jarábek is the head of the Slovak Vatican Radio section and was in Rome. There are many pilgrims in the Vatican during the jubilee year, tens of thousands of them had the opportunity to be blessed on the Pope on Sunday. « He served in the last breath, faithful to his mission, » says the priest.
Monday morning pilgrimage continued, people passed in the morning with a pilgrimage cross through the Holy Gate.
According to the protocol, a funeral should follow within four to six days. This will be followed by the Conclave, the choice of the new Pope.
It will symbolically break the bronze gate and the ring. What happens to the Vatican after the Pope’s death? Read
How did you hear about the death of the Pope?
In the morning I accepted the message that there would be a live broadcast in a short while. So I turned on the broadcast from the Cathedral of St. Martha.
We had no idea what was going to happen. About ten ten Cardinal Farrell, Camerango (Pontifical Chamberlain, Cardinal representing the Pope), who is in charge of the announcement of this event, said this report in the chapel.
Then I got a call from work that it is necessary to serve the Holy Mass. In the chapel of the Vatican Radio we three priests served a mass broadcast for all languages, we are 56 editors, it was broadcast in Latin.
What does it look like in the streets of the Vatican?
I haven’t seen people work differently on the streets. The pilgrimage continues, people went with a pilgrimage cross through the Holy Gate. I heard how the cops were talking to being 88, so apparently this message spread very quickly.
Immediately I accepted some phone calls, people wanted to check if this was true information, so I referred them to our site.
According to the protocol, there should be a funeral within four to six days, yet I do not know anything closer to it. This will be followed by more detailed processes with the Conclave.
What was your last contact with the Pope?
Yesterday I was at Mass on St. Peter’s square, as a priest I concelebrated. There was a blessing of Urbi et orbi, the city and the world. The Pope was up in the loggia, I heard his voice live, but it wasn’t visible, as we were sitting down under the balcony.
After the end of the blessing, he walked among the people in Papamobile. One colleague very nicely assessed that he served in his last breath, faithful to his mission, passed to the last exhalation.
He did not do it for himself, for his glory, it was obvious that he was doing it as a service for people who wanted to see him and came to Rome. It is a very beautiful testimony of his life full of mercy. He sacrificed himself as Jesus on the cross, to the last breath.
Now is the Holy Year, there were more believers in Rome than usual, who could have met the Pope for the last time?
Yes, it can be seen that it is a jubilee year, although it is marked by the absence of the Pope. Rather, it is about going through four holy gates in the Papal Basilica. It is about expressing personal transformation, one wants to change his life. The gate is symbolized that I want to move to new life, life with Christ, life in the Church.
There was an increased number of pilgrims, especially on weekends we watch the huge crowds pass. When I go through St. Peter’s square, it is sometimes difficult to pass because there are so many people.
The Holy Year really contributed a lot of pilgrims. Even yesterday, there were 35,000 people at the Holy Mass and others joined the blessing of Urbi et orbi.
What awaits you in the near future?
We do not have anything very prepared, but this situation surprised us a little.
Of course, we have a lot of material, whether photos, videos from the roads. During the anniversary of the Pope, we have prepared various medalons.
Right from the morning, all departments began to cooperate and prepare different forms of content. The editorial of the Vatican Radio director was published, I translate it at this time. By working with this material daily, it is not difficult to pull out important points from the Pope’s pontificate and life.
How do you remember him personally?
The strongest moment for me was a year ago at St. Peter’s square, where I had the opportunity to read the Pope’s message in the military pilgrimage in Slovak. At the same time, we served our hand with the Holy Father.
He had great charisma, he felt love, he smiled beautifully at me. It impressed me very strongly. He was really like a loving father who really lived what he reported.
