Jo McKenna: Italy Correspondent on the increasing security, preparations for Pope Francis' funeral

Thousands of people are descending on Rome ahead of Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday. 

It's already a busy time for the city, with Easter and other local public holidays falling this week. 

Newstalk ZB's Jo McKenna told Mike Hosking she's spoken to people who have waited in line for four hours to catch a glimpse of the Pope. 

She says the Vatican is considering keeping the doors open past midnight tonight because of the demand. 

Security checks will also be stepped up ahead of the funeral, with the Vatican working out the arrangements tonight. 

McKenna says they will include firefighters who specialise in terrorism and chemical warfare.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In Italy. Joe mckinna, very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's been like these last couple of days.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, it's been crazy and not a lot of sleep.
Incredible scenes at the Vatican. I'm still here right now,
and I can tell you there are thousands of people
lining up to go in and see Pope Francis lying
in state inside Saint Peter's Basilica. Around twenty thousand people
have already been in today, and the Vatican is looking
at keeping that the doors open past midnight tonight because

(00:28):
there are so many people who want to go in
there and have a look.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm assuming it's a well oiled machine.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well we're hoping, I mean I live in hope that
it's a well oiled machine. There are some minor things
that need to be worked out, like working out how
he's going to be moved, because his desire is to
be buried at Saint Mary Major, the basilica on the
other side of the city. And tonight the Vatican said

(00:56):
they're working out the security arrangements. Incredible security arrangements, as
you can imagine, Mike, with his President Donald Trump coming
in and the other world leaders.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, exactly, I'll come back to that in a moment.
His actual movement, how far I've seen the matt but
I meant at the pace they'll go and the rids.
How long would that take?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Only a few kilometers? I think four or five kilometers,
they said tonight he will be moving very slowly to
give people an opportunity to really farewell him. So I
would expect the streets of Rome to be lined with
thousands of people as his body has moved from the
basilica here at Saint Peter's across the other side of town.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm reading one of the British papers eight hour cues.
Would that be fair?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Someone said to me tonight four hours, and they said
it was worth every minute. It changed their lives seeing
the pope lying in state, and the scenes inside the
basilica are also very dramatic because it looks so beautiful
in there.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, it does not to diminish what's going on, of course,
but we're the wise. It's out, okay, hasn't it. I
mean weather I've been following that. I mean it's not
middle winter.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
In other words, No, it's quite quite beautiful spring weather.
We've got some signs of rain tomorrow. It's chili at night,
your trench code at night. But you can hear people
around me just lining up. The cues are stretching down
Via de la Conca CHILIAI in front of the Basilica.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Now wow, So as regards Trump and Macron and Prince
William and all, they locked the place down.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, I've never seen the sort of security
measures they're talking about. Dog squads are already in action.
They're going to put police on the river, sharpshooters on
the buildings, which we have seen before. But incidentally, they're
going to have firefighters that specialize in terrorism, nuclear attacks,
and chemical warfare. So that tells you the level of

(02:50):
security that's going on.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
And what does that mean to the average person in Rome?
You just you stay at home. You can't get it,
You're going nowhere.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, the funny thing is this week using whole week
here because we've had Easter Monday, which is a huge
holiday in Italy, and then April twenty five is also
the day when they remember Liberation Day World War two,
so it's really a holiday week and many locals are
out of town, but we expect them to come back
at the end of the week. And around two hundred

(03:19):
and fifty thousand are expected for the funeral.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
And with all due reverence once again to the event,
given who you have in town. Is business going to
be talked about? Are we talking cariiffs doing deals?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, diplomats have told me off the record they don't
think there's going to be much time for that. But
I think it's really an interesting juxtaposition, isn't it. We're
going to have Trump here, We're going to have him
meeting once again with Italian Prime Minister Maloney. Ursula Vonderline
from the European Commission's going to be here, Macron. So

(03:49):
will they have time to talk? Well, that's hard to say,
but I think most of the leaders will be in
and out. But it's certainly an interesting juxtaposition, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
It doesn't go well, Joe, I appreciate cover Joe mckinna,
who is in Saint Peter's Square in Rome on a
spring evening as we speak. For more from the Mic
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