The chimney that half the world will be watching from Wednesday peeks out from the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, while the city of Rome was finalizing preparations on Monday for a historic week in which we hope to find out who the new Pope will be.
Journalists covering the conclave to elect his successor are already returning to Rome, and the Vatican was a hive of reporters on Monday afternoon. As it happened in the days leading up to the burial, the cardinals coming in and out of the Vatican premises are followed almost like stars, both by journalists and by curious onlookers asking about their identity. Some evade the media, but others, like Indonesian Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Archbishop of Jakarta, stop to patiently answer questions, although without giving clues about what might happen from Wednesday onwards.
While the conclave begins, Romans, religious figures, and tourists from around the world take advantage of these days of sede vacante to pay tribute to Bergoglio. "Rome embraces Pope Francis with love", reads the image that the City Council projects every few seconds on the video screens placed on numerous buildings in the city, which usually inform about cultural activities and festivals taking place in the Italian capital.
The Novendiales, the nine consecutive days of masses in honor of the deceased Pope, concluded on Sunday with a Eucharist in St. Peter's Basilica, although one of the most emotional moments took place on Saturday night. Thousands of people gathered in Vatican Square for the Rosary and torchlight procession with the image of Mater Ecclesiae, the Virgin Mary. Although this religious event, which takes place in May and October, was not organized due to the death of Francis, prayers were said for him, and many of the visitors arriving at the square at that time thought it was in his memory.
"We are religious, but we didn't know that there was going to be this procession with the Virgin, we found it beautiful," say Jennifer and Keith, a couple from Malta who encountered the "misfortune" of the Pope's death a few days before starting their trip to Rome last Thursday, which they had booked months ago. "We watched the funeral on TV, but it was very exciting to visit his tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, although they almost don't let you stop," Keith comments. They waited in line for two hours on Friday around 10 in the morning, "but it was worth it," Jennifer assures.
Froilán, Elena, José, and María, a group of Spaniards on vacation in Rome, waited in line for an hour and a half to visit the tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on Saturday at four in the afternoon. The visiting hours are from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and according to an agent of the National Police (polizia dello stato), between 21,000 and 23,000 people are paying their respects to the Pope every day: "The waiting time varies a lot depending on the time of day. If you come at 7 in the morning, you're inside in 20 minutes," he assures. On Monday, it took about half an hour to enter the basilica, where numerous bouquets of flowers have been placed on the fences. "Grazie Francesco!" reads a large banner placed in front of the church, on the facade of a building belonging to the Pontifical Lombard Seminary.
There are many tourists in Rome these days, but the truth is that not many more than during any weekend in spring, one of the best times to visit. The peak of visitors occurred between the Monday when Francis passed away (April 21) and Sunday the 27th, a day after the burial. According to data from the EBTL, the bilateral tourism entity of the Lazio region, only between the 25th and 26th of April, 154,000 people arrived who stayed in hotels or other types of accommodations.
The city is also preparing for the arrival throughout the week of thousands of people who want to witness the historic moment when the fumata bianca and the bells will announce "Habemus Papam." Additionally, those attending the ATP Masters tennis tournament in Rome, which started on Monday and will run until May 18, will also join.
The weather, by the way, seems to be favorable for the faithful gathering at St. Peter's as the weather forecast indicates that between Wednesday and Sunday there will be temperatures between 20 and 24 degrees during the day, and so far, there is no rain expected for the days of the conclave.
As Elena, a waitress at Il Piccolo, one of the restaurants closest to the Vatican, recounts, her boss believes that these days are having a normal flow of customers for this time of year. "When there were really a lot of people was during the conclave that elected Francis [in March 2013]. I lived near the San Pietro train station, which is about a 12-minute walk from the Vatican, and I remember streams of people running down to the Square," says Elena, who was born in Romania and has been living in Rome for 15 years. "The rumor on the street is that they are going to choose the Filipino cardinal," she says, referring to Luis Antonio Tagle.
"I am very interested in who the next Pope will be, but I don't want to know anything about the possible candidates until the day they are elected and tell us who it will be," says Massimo, a Roman we also found at the Vatican with his partner Giorgia, who says: "What I hope for is that whoever succeeds Francis continues the path he has started."
Giorgia agrees with most of her compatriots because, according to a survey on the next Pope conducted by the economic and political analysis agency Izi, 74% of Italians would like the continuity of Francis' pontificate. To most of the respondents, the nationality of Francis' successor is also indifferent, according to this survey.
The sale of souvenirs has naturally skyrocketed these days because while the next head of the Catholic Church is being known, many tourists do not want to leave Rome without taking home a memento of Francis. In addition to the typical magnets, keychains, calendars, or rosaries, there are more original ones, such as a doormat that portrays the Pope as Superman with a briefcase full of values, which is sold at one of the stalls in the Testaccio Market. Despite the hustle and bustle of the Vatican, some things remain as they always have. At midnight, homeless people replace tourists in St. Peter's Square. In a poignant image that is repeated both in winter and summer, each of the sections separated by columns on the exterior is occupied by a homeless person; some set up a gray tent, and others, taking advantage of the good weather, sleep outdoors, with the only privacy in some cases being an umbrella placed as a screen.