Catholic faithful around the world expressed indignation this week after videos and pictures of individuals taking selfies next to Pope Francis’s open casket began circulating on social media.
Since Wednesday, over 128,000 people have visited Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, enduring roughly eight-hour-long queues to enter the Church and pay their respects to Pope Francis’s body. The late pontiff will lie in state for a three-day ritual prior to his burial on Saturday.
Videos circulating of individuals recording selfie videos and taking pictures next to the late Pope’s casket during the few seconds that they are allowed to be in front of the coffin began circulating on social media, eliciting outrage and condemnation from Catholics, who denounced the practice as distasteful and disrespectful behavior in such a solemn moment.
“The moment you live with so many people loses a lot of intimacy. The lines, the speed, blur that experience,” A Spanish man identified by the Spanish news agency EFE said. “Many come more to have their pictures taken than to pray for the pope.”
Martin and Catherine Gilsenan, a 59-year-old British husband and wife, spoke with the Daily Mirror on Thursday and said that they found the mobile phones very distasteful, explaining that people were being asked to put their selfie sticks away when they got to the front.
“There were also many people looking around and getting upset with those on the phones. We have phones but we kept them in our pockets and afterwards found a spot inside the church for 15 minutes of quiet contemplation,” Martin Gilsenan said.
“What did surprise me is the fact that earlier we were told no photos in the Sistine Chapel and here people were getting their phone out and doing selfies with the coffin,” Janine Venables, a British woman from south Wales, told the Daily Mail. “I did think that was a bit in poor taste and I’m surprised no one stopped them.”
The Daily Mail reported on Friday that an unnamed Brazilian priest is among the individuals who published selfies next to Pope Francis’ body on social media. A Vatican source told the Mail that it would be good if people could try to remember where they are and have respect, but “there’s little else that can be done.”
A Vatican spokesman told the British newspaper The Times that visitors were discouraged from taking photos, while a Vatican source told the newspaper, “They are queuing for hours, praying and paying their respects, but taking pictures is not in the best of taste.”
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, died on Monday from a stroke at the age of 88. Francis served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1998 until his election as pope in March 2013. The Argentine newspaper La Nación reached out to the Archbishop of Buenos Aires for comment on the matter of the selfies, which reportedly responded that the office does not have an official position on the matter since it is in mourning and carrying out the relevant tasks for a Mass to be held on Saturday morning for the Pope’s eternal rest.
Pope Francis’s coffin will be sealed on Friday evening following the Rite of Sealing. The late pope will be buried on the morning of Saturday, April 26, at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, which sits outside the Vatican walls in the center of Rome, as per his will.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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