Kildare couple say attending Pope Francis wake ‘significant’ having first met at papal event

By Aine Fox, PA Social Affairs Correspondent, in Vatican City

A couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary have told of the “significance” of being able to attend Pope Francis’s wake in Rome – having first met decades ago at another papal event.

Patrick and Alice Gavigan were among some 20,000 people paying their respects to Francis in St Peter’s Basilica on the first day of his lying-in-state.

The nearly four-hour queue was “well worth it”, the retired couple aged in their 60s said, as they reminisced on their first meeting during a visit by Pope John Paul II to Ireland.

The pair, now living in Leixlip, Co Kildare, did not know each other when they went to Phoenix Park in Dublin in 1979 for that event, but met, married and have since had two daughters.

Mr Gavigan told the PA news agency: “There is a significance, really and truly. Not planned.

“We met for the first time ever in the Phoenix Park when John Paul II visited Ireland, and we’re married.

“And 40 years later we decided to come to Rome to see the current pope, whom we had seen in Knock [in 2018].

“But lo and behold he didn’t stick around for our visit. We thought we were coming for a party [in our wedding anniversary year] but alas it’s not a party, it’s a mourning.”

The couple had booked their holiday to Rome last year, and were glad to arrive on Wednesday just as Pope Francis’s remains went on display at the basilica.

Mr Gavigan, a retired prison governor originally from Longford, said it had been “momentous” to be in the basilica.

He added: “Truly once in a lifetime. I’m so happy we’ve done that. Looking up there now at the dome, it’s hard to believe that Pope Francis is waking there.”

Mr Gavigan added that the experience felt surreal.

He said: “Having seen Pope Francis when he visited Ireland in 2018 – we went to Knock to see him – we felt coming here now that he is no longer with us and going to his wake was just surreal really. To see him alive and see him now in death.”

Mrs Gavigan, a retired Health Service Executive (HSE) worker originally from Co Mayo, said while the atmosphere was subdued, those queuing alongside them were friendly as they stood in line for hours.

She said: “It was very quiet and sombre [in the basilica], but everyone was in good form and chatting to each other in the queue.

“It was long but it was well worth it in the end, just to go in to see him.”

Referring to the fact Pope John Paul was later canonised, and his positive views of Francis as a “reformative pope”, Mr Gavigan said: “Perhaps we’ll have seen two saints in our lifetimes.”

The Vatican extended viewing times at the basilica due to high demand from mourners, opting not to close it at midnight as originally planned.

Francis’s remains are due to remain on display until 7pm local time on Friday, ahead of his funeral mass in St Peter’s Square on Saturday.