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Anna and Irene are already lines for about an hour, and they know that they still have a long wait to come.

“Two hours, three o’clock, ten hours – what’s it?” said Irena. “It is eternity.”

They came to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who thought that “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.

And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are waiting for the opportunity to visit her tomb.

Francis, said Irena, “was like a rainbow” who turned on the world. Anna nods: “We are so happy to be here.”

The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.

More than 30,000 people came to see him during the first morning after the pope’s funeral, the front line of the front of the powerful basilica, then from top to bottom through the square.

Some were curious visitors, others were devoted followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and dedicated inhabitants.

All these efforts admired Francis; A very little really knew him.

Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, the pope offering words of encouragement.

He said: “I had the honor of serving Pope Francis and speaking to him several times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all people – he was simple and direct.

“It was sunny. Saint Francis was his model and when I saw the first photo of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was from the tomb of St Francis d’Assise.

“Pope Francis will leave an inheritance – it does not end with his death but will continue.”

What are your emotions now, while you are waiting to visit your grave, I ask. Father Alessandro stops and smiles.

“Many emotions of course, but above all, I think … recognition.”

This was a recurring aspect among so many people that we met in Rome during last week – the feeling that the sadness for the death of Francis is prevailing on the feeling that it was a life that should be celebrated.

Volodymyr Boryyak came from London in the morning of the pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.

It had barely happened that his phone was stolen, a crime he replied, praying for the thief.

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Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that the fate of his country of origin is forgotten by some of the world.

Now the Pope who inspired him has died.

You might imagine that it would be full of resentment and angry. Instead, he’s full of smiles.

“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and it’s a special day,” he told me. “I know that the pope prayed in this basilica, which is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.

“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everyone.”