The people of Ireland have ‘appreciation’ for the life of the late pontiff, Michael D Higgins has said.

Post offices in Ireland had received queries from the public on what was the correct address and stamp to use.

Patrick and Alice Gavigan, from Leixlip, Co Kildare, are on holiday in Rome and said the experience felt surreal.

Marguerite O’Leary and her teenage daughter Ellen stood for more than five hours on Wednesday to be among the first members of the public to see the late pontiff’s remains inside St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell was asked in 2019 by Pope Francis to take on the role managing the Vatican during the ‘interregnum’ between papacies.

Father Tim Bartlett helped organise Francis’s visit to the island in 2018

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, 77, who lived in Drimnagh, Dublin, made the announcement on Easter Monday.

Issues around moving the Pro-Cathedral from north to south of the River Liffey continued to be worked upon following an announcement six months ago that Archbishop Dermot Farrell proposed a change despite opposition to the move