Young French people witnesses of the historic funeral of Pope Francis
The sleek coffin of Pope Francis moves away from Place Saint-Pierre under the tired looks of a group of Lyonnais adolescents. Their host takes the opportunity to discreetly release a small blue candle. “Happy birthday, happy birthday …”, she begins to sing, mixing her voice with the Glas of the Saint-Pierre basilica. Saturday April 26, 2025, Arthur celebrates its 15th anniversary in an unreal atmosphere. Some 400,000 Catholic faithful and 4,000 priests celebrate the funeral of the 266th Pope, surrounded by 2,700 journalists from around the world.
The canonization of Carlo Acutis postponed
Delighted, the third college girl saw in the distance from the cardinals, recognizable by their red cap on their heads. A few hours before, however, he sneaned in the crowd by pouting: “I go to a burial on my birthday, it’s not a joyful moment …” Arthur, it is true, had not come to Rome to say goodbye to the bishop dressed in white, but to participate in the jubilee of adolescents – the first in history – organized from April 25 to 27.
I was looking forward to the canonization planned for this occasion by Carlo Acutis, a young Italian known for having broadcast the Bible message on the Internet, and who died of leukemia in 2006, at 15 years old. After the disappearance of Pope Francis, the canonization was postponed, but not the jubilee. This is why a crowd of young Italians, Portuguese, Spanish or even French is teeming that morning in the streets of the eternal city. Their natural passion contrasts with the solemn atmosphere reigning around the Vatican. When young believers play cards on the cobblestones of the Saint-Pierre square to pass the time before the mass of the funeral, nuns pray nearby, their eyes fogged.
Louis, 15, learned the death of the Argentinian pontiff on Easter Monday when he woke up. “My mother told me to go down to watch the news. She was sad and confused. For him, this pope was only a distant personality, a few times seen on the television news, and whose face he did not really know. He ignored the flagship moments of the Pontificate of François. During the call to engage against poverty in 2013, the boy frequented nursery school. Two years later, after the encyclical Laudato if ‘, He was still too young. He knew that the pope was “famous”, nothing more.
A rite of passage for these adolescents
Very few of these teenagers had had time to weave an emotional bond with the head of the Catholic Church. Some have so far saw the papacy through the nostalgic stories of their parents who grew up under John Paul II. “My mother often tells me this day when she sang in a choir at the ON Rome in front of the Holy Father. He then praised the singers one by one, ”comments Brune, 15, between two sandwich bites, installed on the ground on a sidewalk of the Italian capital with other comrades. At their age, the Christian life comes down mainly to parish activities or outings with scouts … “The church, for them, is the priest and the faithful that they meet in mass”, notes Father Frédéric de Verchère, parish priest of Notre-Dame des Lumières in Caluire-et-Cuire, in the Metropolis of Lyon, who accompanies young people to Rome.
This time, almost 1000 km from their home, these teens discover the church with a large “é”. A rite of passage which makes them grasp the universal scope of Catholicism. Rome and its nuns from the five continents, Rome and its bishops in Indian line, Rome and its statues of the Virgin Mary on every street corner … and priests, many priests. Rome, center of the world, for a few days. The famous Sunday angelus? The college students saw the balcony from which each pope pronounces this prayer in front of the faithful. The Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals will soon be locking in charge of electing François’s successor? She’s there, a stone’s throw away! And the conclave, this term so far from their daily vocabulary, now has no secrets for them. Especially that of the 13th century, more than a thousand days long. “The inhabitants had to destroy the roof to let the Holy Spirit act faster,” summarizes in his way Augustine, a student of terminal.
“Two cardinals even died during this conclave! “Reads at the same time Mattin, 15, according to some research on his phone.
Divergent expectations
The jubilee continues at the Saint-Paul-Hors-les-Murs basilica, known for its medallions around the main nave representing the popes. Usually, that of the Holy Father in office is enlightened. But at the end of April, the figure of Jorge Bergoglio remains extinct and the following location, empty. Who will be Pierre’s next successor?
While journalists are busy around the cardinals in the hope of ticking an information crumb, young people brush the ideal portrait of their future spiritual leader. “I don’t want one who wants to put Mass in Latin!” »Spontaneously drops Apolline, 13 years old. A little further, victory, 15, is on the same line: “I would like him to be like François, who wants to continue to modernize the church. “His comrade Alix, of the same age, immediately cuts it:” But without moving away from our roots. She fears that a pontiff can one day to tolerate abortion. In these teens, the same differences are at work as in adults, their parents. “You have to find the right cursor. Someone open it would be good, especially to talk about peace and ecology, because the Church must live with its time. But you have to be also conservative and have limits. Without returning to the period of the kings of France where the popes decided on everything, ”develops Augustin.
On the bus that brings them back to Lyon, laughter and cries are fused. “These young people discovered the attachment of Catholics to their pope,” notes Father Frédéric de Verchère. And the next pontiff will really be that of their generation.
