'Huge honour' to attend Pope Francis' funeral

First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said it was a "huge honour" to be at Pope Francis' funeral, representing "all those people at home who looked towards him for spiritual leadership".

O'Neill, who cut short a family holiday to attend, said it was a "huge historic moment".

She said Pope Francis had been "admired by so many, myself included".

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly did not attend the funeral.

O'Neill said it was for Little-Pengelly "to explain her own decision making on whether to be here or not".

"I wanted to be here, I sought an invitation to be here and I think the fact that I sat today beside John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland, again he is here in the same vein to represent the people of Scotland as I was here to represent the people at home," she added.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland - Eamon Martin - and Irish President Michael D Higgins were also among those who attended the Pope's funeral.

Speaking to BBC News NI after the funeral, O'Neill said she felt "emotional" as watched the funeral procession take place.

"When you look around the crowd here today, the thousands of people who have turned out to honour him and to pay respect to what he did for society, I think that his legacy is strong," he said.

"It's one of courage, it's one of humility, it's one of leadership, particularly in a time when the world is so broken."

"He was a unifier in death as he was in life. But I think that that is one of the huge legacies that he leaves behind.

"We had him when he visited Ireland back in 2018, I never got a chance to meet him at that time, but to be here today is just so special on so many levels and just a huge privilege from me to represent all those people at home.

"We have a huge Catholic population but Pope Francis reached well beyond the Catholic population, he reached out to so many. The marginalised, the poor, the vulnerable, our LGBT communities."

She called Pope Francis "a man of humility, a man who practised what he preached and was very much on the side of the marginalised and of the poor, who spoke up against injustice wherever he saw it".

• LIVE UPDATES: The funeral of Pope Francis
• GUIDE: The funeral of Pope Francis
• EXPLAINER: How the next Pope is chosen

The late pontiff's funeral took place at 09:00 BST (10:00 local time) in the Vatican on Saturday.

During the funeral Pope Francis' simple coffin, which was made of wood and zinc, was laid in the square in front of St Peter's Basilica.

Dozens of leaders and dignitaries - including Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prince William - joined an estimated 250,000 mourners, with 50,000 inside St Peter's Square itself.

After the service, the body of Pope Francis - dressed in a red chasuble and a damask and golden papal mitre - was taken from St Peter's to the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome for burial.

In the final moment of the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican's camerlengo, Irish-born American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, presided over the burial rite.

Just a few cardinals and the close circle of the Pope's Vatican family took part in the ceremony.

Mass-goers at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast also paid tribute to the late Pope on Saturday.

Briege Chambers, who watched the funeral, says the atmosphere was "absolutely magnificent, we could feel it even though we weren't present in Rome at the time, but I think it radiated out."

"It was very sad, but everybody has to die, don't they?", said another churchgoer, Bridie McCabe.

A third, Rosa, said: "When any pope dies, I think there are a lot of people who want to pay their respects. But particularly this man."

Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday after weeks of ill health.

The Vatican said he died following a stroke, less than 24 hours after appearing in a wheelchair at St Peter's Square to lead an Easter address in front of thousands of worshippers.

Cardinal Farrell, was the one to break the news.

He then became the "camerlengo", or the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope.

Pope Francis nominated the cardinal for the role in 2019.

The cardinal will remain in the position during the "Apostolica Sedes Vacans", the period between the death or resignation of a pope until the election of the next pontiff.

Today marks the beginning of a nine-day mourning period called Novemdiales, with a Mass held every day in memory of Francis.

The Catholic world's attention will soon turn to the conclave – the ritual selection of Francis' successor where eligible cardinals gather in Vatican City to vote in secret.

As camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell will be tasked with making arrangements for the conclave.

The cardinals haven't confirmed a date yet, but the conclave typically takes place between 15 to 20 days after the pope's death.

That would indicate a date after 6 May is likely.