This Wednesday, St. Peter’s Basilica opened its doors for priests and bishops to enter to pay tribute and bid farewell to Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday morning at the age of 88.
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But an 82-year-old nun, with a backpack on her shoulder, broke protocol and approached the pope’s coffin. In addition, unlike the other members of the church who briefly stopped and then left, the nun remained there for several minutes, almost motionless, except to wipe away her tears.
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Who is the nun who broke protocol to bid farewell to Pope Francis?
Later it was revealed that it was Geneviève Jeanningros, a nun who was a friend of the pope.
This nun from the Little Sisters of Jesus has been helping the poor, prostitutes, and transgender individuals working on the streets for 56 years.
She is French and is known as “L’enfant terrible” (“The Terrible Child”), due to her strong character and her work for the most underprivileged in marginalized communities in Ostia, a coastal neighborhood of Rome, where she lives in a trailer.
Jeanningros used to take his proteges to the general audiences of the Pope in the Vatican, where they were warmly welcomed and received with attention by the pontiff.
In addition, in 2024, the pope visited Ostia guided by Geneviève Jeanningros and met with workers from an amusement park and circus artists.
According to journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide, as reported by Infobae, Jeanningros became a key bridge to facilitate meetings between the Pontiff and human rights leaders, as well as with a community of trans women living on the outskirts of Rome.
Jeanningros was also the niece of Léonie Duquet, one of the French nuns kidnapped and disappeared during the Argentine dictatorship in 1977.
When is Pope Francis’ funeral?
The official funeral ceremony for the pope will take place this Saturday, April 26th at the Vatican, starting at 10:00 am local time.
However, the pope will not be buried in the grottos beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, as is tradition. According to his will, Francis confirmed that he would be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is outside the Vatican in Rome and houses his favorite image of the Virgin Mary. After each trip abroad, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that depicts an image of Mary, dressed in a blue cloak and holding the baby Jesus.