Before mourners in their thousands gather in St. Peter’s Square to grieve, before leaders from around the world arrive to pay their respects, and long before cardinals cloister themselves to consider the future, the Vatican holds a small ceremony when a pope dies.

Asked once what gave him hope, he spoke not of theology or politics, but of people — heroic mothers, men with dreams, women who look toward the future. In a world of suffering, he still believed in th

The Vatican opened St. Peter’s Basilica to the general public Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, with thousands of people filling the central aisle and Swiss Guards standing at attention.