The strong aroma of incense heralded the emergence of Pope Francis’s coffin into the sunlight from St Peter’s Basilica.
Its scent, wafting through the air, travelled as high as the terrace overlooking St Peter’s Square onto which media were packed to cover a funeral of global proportions.
Presidents, prime ministers and princes alike had arrived in the hour before the requiem mass began, many mingling and chatting with each other in the warm Italian sun.
Shortly after 10am, they rose to their feet as they joined an estimated 200,000 people who the Vatican said had made the journey to pay their last respects at the late pontiff’s funeral.
A quiet reverence was broken by a ripple of applause as mourners showed their appreciation for a man dubbed “the people’s pope”.
Just shy of a week after he made a surprise appearance to delighted crowds to wish them a happy Easter, his simple wooden coffin was laid in front of the basilica for adoring pilgrims to say their last goodbyes.
Saturday’s open-air mass was the culmination of days of grieving, in which the Vatican said a quarter of a million queued to see the Pope’s remains.
Those wishing to see the funeral in person queued from the early hours of the morning, making their way towards the square before 5am.
In the hours before the mass began, there was a quiet chatter in front the basilica among people patiently waiting in their seats.
Seagulls circled as clouds cleared to blue skies, while helicopters and a drone buzzed overhead.
Many of the international media had congregated on Braccio di Carlo Magno, a terrace by the basilica with a view of the square.
Camera shutters could be heard clicking furiously as various world leaders walked down the steps of the ornate church to take their seats outside.
US President Donald Trump had a front row view of proceedings alongside the First Lady Melania.
The couple were separated by just 10 seats from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was applauded as he stepped out of the basilica.
Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky had a private meeting before the funeral.
Just a few seats along from Mr Zelensky and his wife in the front row were Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina.
Former US president Joe Biden, who is Catholic, was also among the dignitaries and was seen having photographs taken with people before mass began.
As the temperature rose during the near two-hour ceremony, and with no shade, leaders could be seen fanning themselves and being handed bottles of water.
The Prince of Wales, a future head of the Church of England, was there to represent his father the King, whom Pope Francis had met less than two weeks before the pontiff’s death.
William and British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer were among those who paid their respects in front of the coffin before it was brought outside for the mass.
Looking towards the crowd from the basilica, mourners were lined through the square and beyond as far as the eye could see.
One banner, held aloft in the square, read “Adios Padre”, meaning “goodbye father” in Spanish.
Screens had been erected along Via della Conciliazione, which leads up to the Vatican, to enable as many as possible to feel part the funeral.
The mass ended with another round of applause in the square, as Francis’s coffin was held up towards the crowd for a few moments before being taken back into the basilica.
Among the sea of red vestments donned by cardinals who sat to the left of the altar for the mass was the next pope – as yet unelected.
Some among them, walking two-by-two in a procession up the basilica steps, needed help either with a stick or a hand, a sign of the advanced years of some of the highest ranks in the Church.
The secret conclave meeting to choose Francis’s successor is expected to begin early next month.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, will be taking part for the first time.
In an interview with the PA news agency in the days before the funeral, he likened someone being elected pope as a “moment of a mini death”, as they commit themselves totally to service.
He said: “Somebody will come out of this conclave and never, ever go home again, and that too will be a moment of a mini death, almost, where they just put themselves into the hands of the Church to be offered to God.”
As crowds dispersed for the procession of Francis’s coffin through the streets of Rome to his final resting place, the bell of the basilica tolled.
