As pilgrims arrived for a second day to visit St Peter's Basilica, ominous clouds rolled in on numerous occasions throughout the day over Vatican City.
A brief rain shower in the morning gave little respite from the hot spring sun, as once again queues of people waited to pay their respects to Pope Francis.
By the afternoon, queuing times reached three hours until black clouds formed to the north with thunder booming in the distance.
While brief, the second spell of rain resulted in much of the evening crowd departing and word spread that the line was moving quickly.
It isn't until you approach St Peter's Basilica that the scale of the building becomes apparent.
There's plenty of time in the queue to take it all in.
A young couple within earshot held hands and prayed the rosary in Spanish as people moved steadily towards the basilica doors.
At the halfway point, a woman was removed from the queue when security realised that she was carrying a dog.
As people entered the basilica, phones emerged from coats, bags and pockets and were held aloft.
Progressing up the nave required sidestepping people taking selfies and videos until they were within metres of Pope Francis lying-in-state.
While he advocated the use of smart phones wisely, the late pontiff was critical of excessive phone use.
As they approached the coffin, some of those in line adhered to requests by the ushers to put their phones away, others chanced a quick snap.
There were only seconds to pay respect.
Many people blessed themselves with little time to pause as they filed past.
A number of people took a moment behind the altar to reflect.
The interior of the basilica is breathtaking. Despite this, the mortal remains of a man who promoted simplicity above all else eclipsed the surroundings.
Photos continued to be taken at the door exiting the basilica.
A final moment to capture history.
It was all over in 40 minutes.
A half an hour later, darkness fell and with the threat of rain gone, crowds had returned to St Peter’s Square and queues returned.
By last night, 91,000 people had passed through the doors of the basilica.
A source in the Vatican said people had realised that by joining the queue extremely early in the morning or close to midnight, they were more likely to be in line for a shorter period of time.
The threat of unpleasant weather also helps.
