Bay Area couple in Rome reflects on Pope Francis' passing, hope to attend funeral

VATICAN CITY (KGO) -- Mourners are paying their respects to Pope Francis, and among those in Rome trying to get inside to see the Pope's coffin is a couple from the Bay Area.

Cecilia and Gene Moran are from the North Bay and happened to be in Italy when news of the Pope's death broke.

The Morans hope to attend the Pope's funeral on Saturday.

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"We heard the Pope had passed away, we're Catholic, so we're like 'Wow, this is a big event,' and we're hoping to see the Pope," Cecilia said.

Gene said this is an opportunity for them to witness history.

"This is something special, something that I may not witness in the future for myself, so it's an honor to be here," he said.

The morning started off rough for the couple, however, as they had already gotten in the wrong line.

"We were in the media line, until finally somebody said this is the media line, so we came out to this side of the center," Gene said. "We've heard that lines are long, but we're just going to play it by ear and see how it goes."