Daniel island church group unexpectedly attends pope’s funeral in Rome

What began as a pilgrimage from Daniel Island to Rome, Italy, to witness a saint’s canonization became an unexpected front-row seat to history.

 

Father Gregory West, pastor of Saint Clare of Assisi Catholic Church on Daniel Island, was leading 29 parishioners to Rome when news broke that Pope Francis had died.

 

The group was en route to witness the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian teenager known for his digital evangelization and a figure of devotion at the church for the past four years.

Instead, they found themselves among a quarter of a million mourners at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis, an event West would ultimately help lead as a concelebrating priest.

 

“We learned of Pope Francis’s death only hours before boarding our departing flight out of Charleston,” West said. “We knew the Carlo Acutis events would be postponed, but we felt privileged to be in Rome for the extraordinary and once-in-a-lifetime experiences surrounding the funeral Mass of our Holy Father.”

 

With the canonization no longer taking place, the group adjusted their plans to participate in the mourning and memorial events that were drawing Catholics from around the world.

 

Despite the group’s hotel being across the street from the Vatican, West arrived three hours before the funeral Mass and found the square already packed with over 150,000 people.

 

Security was intense, with helicopters buzzing overhead, streets shut down, and military patrols on every corner. By the time the Mass began, the crowd had swelled to an estimated 250,000.

 

As a concelebrant during the funeral, West had a seat among the 5,000 priests gathered in Saint Peter’s Square. He joined thousands of bishops and priests from around the world in offering prayers in harmony with the main celebrant.

 

“Personally, it was a tremendous honor and privilege to do my part to pray for our Holy Father and to join the voices of thousands of my brother priests,” he said.

 

One of the most poignant moments during the Mass that struck West was during the consecration of the Holy Eucharist by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the main celebrant.

 

“As he lifted the host and the chalice of the precious blood, there was complete silence among the 250,000-plus people present,” West said.

 

The Mass was offered in over 10 languages, including Latin, Arabic, Mandarin, and Polish. As Pope Francis’s casket was lifted and carried back into St. Peter’s Basilica, the square erupted in applause and cries of “Viva il Papa!” – meaning “Long live the Pope!”

 

West, who lived in Rome in the 1990s and took part in many papal liturgies, said, “Each one of them, including the funeral Mass for Pope Francis, has been a deeply moving expression of the global identity of the Catholic Church.”

 

In the week leading up to the funeral, tens of thousands had filed past the pope’s open casket as he lay in state inside the basilica.

 

“The line of the faithful snaked out of the square and into the city streets,” West said. “It was such a beautiful expression of love and faith that 200,000 would pass by in two days’ time. The outpouring of gratitude was extraordinary.”

 

Despite their change in plans, West said the group embraced their pilgrimage in a new light.

 

“We went ready to receive whatever blessings God had in store for us,” he said. “‘The People’s Pope’ taught the world that real power and influence lie not in the passing things of this world, but rather, in merciful love and heroic kindness.”

 

Editor’s note: On May 8, the Vatican Conclave elected Cardinal Robert Prevost the new pontiff. He is the first U.S.-born pope and is now known as Pope Leo XIV.