To guarantee their place in St. Peter’s Square, some people set up overnight on the streets using foil blankets and sleeping bags.
When capacity was reached, Vatican authorities closed the gates; they subsequently said that there were some 250,000 people in and around the Piazza.
The sheer number of people here is impressive. Before the event, 29-year-old Jeremie Metais of Grenoble, France, said, “It’s lovely to see all these nationalities together.”
“Today, it resembles the center of the world.” Mary James, a Franciscan nun who had remained up all night to ensure a decent location, remarked,
