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James Dmello awoke at 3 a.m. Saturday to watch the televised funeral Mass for Pope Francis at St. Peter's Square in Rome.
Dmello, 57, of suburban Cary, was overcome with emotions and immediately knew he and his wife, Anne, had to be present for a Mass memorializing the pope because "if he was for us, then we have to be for him."
"It was too much, like, I couldn't control myself. I woke up 3 in the morning and nonstop until it got over, I was there the whole Mass," Dmello said.
The Dmellos were among nearly 800 parishioners who attended a Saturday evening memorial Mass for Pope Francis at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., on the Near North Side.
The couple revered the pontiff for his humility and the connections he made across the world.
"As we all know, he was ‘people's pope,' and for me, for us, it's like ‘papa pope, papa Francis,'" Dmello said. "So, he was dear to all people, very down to earth. You've never seen any of that kind of person, so humbled."
At St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 5472 S. Kimbark Ave. in Hyde Park, Deborah De Rosa and Renee Blanchard, were bidding a final farewell to Francis, 88. They are immigrants, and they said Francis, being the first Latin American pope, was "huge and important" to them.
Blanchard said Francis "rejuvenated" the church with his teachings, and De Rosa noted his "compassion for the poor."
"I was so sad when he died," De Rosa said. "I knew he was going to die soon, but the reality of it, it just hurts."
According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican, and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century at about 3 a.m. Chicago time.
They clapped and cheered "Papa Francesco" as his simple wooden coffin traveled aboard a
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Kielce Gussie is a reporter with Vatican News. She has been working in Rome since 2019.
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