Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
Does the mourning process require a taking a selfie? According to the people taking selfies with Pope Francis’ dead body, the answer is yes.
In fact, things have gotten so out of hand that the Vatican has come out to ask visitors to put their phones away before they approach the Pope’s casket.
Lying in state. After his death on Monday at 88 years old, Francis’ coffin was transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he lay in state until Friday. This period allows the faithful to pay their last respects to the pope.
According to the Vatican, about 150,000 people had lined up to pay their respects as of Friday.
Selfies with a dead pope. However, with thousands of people come thousands of opportunities for awkward and WTF situations, and the pope’s lying in state was no different. One practice quickly made headlines and drew condemnation on social media: taking selfies and videos.
In some of the selfies, people can be seen smiling with the dead pope’s body visible in the background. One tourist told media outlets that visitors had selfie sticks while waiting in line.
“this is a funeral not a tourist attraction,” wrote one user on TikTok in response to a video of the behavior that had been viewed more than 800,000 times on Friday.
Another user commented sarcastically that visitors were taking photos and videos at St. Peter’s Basilica for clout.
Click on the image to view the post on X.
“When you feel the need to crank up that aura, get those likes and take that selfie with the dead Pope,” a user on X said.
It appeared that some users had taken their selfies and videos with the dead pope down on Friday.
Vatican asks people to put away their cameras. After facing criticism for not doing anything about the selfies, CNN reported that Vatican officials began telling people to put their phones away and not take any photos when they passed the coffin.
Furthermore, a 1996 Vatican directive actually forbids people from taking photos of the pope after his death.
What comes next. The opportunities for close-up selfies are rapidly coming to an end, though. Francis’ funeral, which will be attended by President Donald Trump and other world leaders, will be held on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square. After the funeral, the coffin will be taken to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome for entombment.
Image | Ashwin Vaswani
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