Before thousands lined up for a momentary glimpse of Pope Francis’ body and a chance to pay their respects, one elderly nun stood facing the pontiff’s coffin, bidding a tearful farewell to her longtime friend.
A video captured the last tender moments Sister Geneviève Jeanningros shared with the man with whom she was known to be a confidante. Wearing a modest blue veil over her silver hair, Sister Geneviève stood alone and wept, rubbing her face with her hand.
Sister Geneviève is a member of a Catholic religious community called the Little Sisters of Jesus, and she said she became friends with the pontiff while he was serving as the bishop of Buenos Aires.
In a video posted by her order, Sister Geneviève said she had chided the church in a letter for not sending senior clergy to the funeral of her aunt, a nun who disappeared in the 1970s during Argentina’s military dictatorship and who was later found dead. She said that Pope Francis, who was then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, had responded by calling her the same evening.
Until last year, Sister Geneviève had lived at a fairground outside Rome in a camper, serving the disadvantaged.