LA Catholics went to Rome for history. They got an unexpected surprise
When Lily Rivera planned her trip to Rome for the weekend of April 25, 2025, she knew that she was going to witness an influential moment in Church history. She just wasn’t expecting that moment to be the mourning and funeral Mass of Pope Francis.
Rivera, a high school theology and math teacher at Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, planned to come to the Eternal City for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, which was originally scheduled for April 27. Like countless others who planned to be in Rome during the last weekend in April, when Rivera and her husband heard about the passing of the Holy Father, they decided to keep their travel plans.
“We just stopped and said a prayer and said ‘OK, Lord, let your will be done,’ ” Rivera said.