Santa Barbara Principal witnesses final days of Pope Francis during anniversary trip to Rome
Ivania Montes
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – What was meant to be a spiritual honeymoon turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Alec Gasca and his wife.
Gasca, the principal of Notre Dame School in Santa Barbara, had planned the trip months in advance to celebrate Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday in Rome. But the couple never expected their visit to coincide with the final days of Pope Francis.
“We found ourselves in the presence of the pope — not realizing at the time that we were witnessing his final hours,” Gasca said.
After arriving in Rome on Thursday, the couple didn’t see Pope Francis until Holy Saturday. They arrived early at St. Peter’s Basilica to secure a good spot — and it paid off.
Over the next few days, they saw the pope several times, including one powerful moment when he prayed at the altar.
“You feel the Holy Spirit kind of in the air,” Gasca said. “Pope Francis was such an advocate for those most in need… It was something my wife and I will talk about for a long time.”
The moment was surreal — standing in the same sacred space as the leader of the Catholic Church, surrounded by the faithful from around the world.
Pope Francis, the 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88. The Vatican said he suffered a stroke followed by irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse. He died peacefully at his residence in the Casa Santa Marta
The couple was on a train in Naples when they first heard the news of the pope’s passing — not from locals, but through a Facebook post from a relative back home in the United States.
As word spread, the mood across churches in Italy began to shift.
“The beauty of the space was still there,” Gasca said. “But it became more of a quiet sorrow. Everyone felt the weight of the loss.”
The couple has since changed their plans and will remain in Rome to attend Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. local time (1 a.m. PT) in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. The pope’s coffin will then be transported to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome for burial, honoring his request for a modest tomb outside the Vatican.
This will mark the first time in more than a century that a pope is buried outside the Vatican. Francis chose the basilica due to his personal devotion to the Virgin Mary, particularly the Salus Populi Romani, the iconic Byzantine icon of Mary and the child Jesus holding a Gospel book on a gold background.