Thousands of people from all over the world gave their respect to late Pope Francis when it was put to rest Saturday in Italy.
Among them was American journalist Kils Gusy, who played a role during a funeral Mass on St. Peter's Square, where she made the first reading.
“My original thought was” oh my God, “but after I thought it was” such a great honor “to become part of this important occasion,” she said CBS News on the eve of the funeral. “Also, for me, this is a big way to say thank you to Pope Francis.”
A 28-year-old American journalist from the Vatican News, who has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mount Mary in Maryland and a License degree in Church Communication from the Papal University in Rome.
CBS News/Cameron Stewart 
Born and brought up by the Catholic, Hazi has been living in Rome since 2019, where she worked as a news producer according to EWTN and Rome reports before becoming a Vatican reporter in October 2024. She is also a participant in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
She met twice with Pope Francis to death: for the first time he blessed her rosary and the second time.
“In those moments I did not see him as the head of the Catholic Church, I saw him as his grandfather,” she said. “And so for me I remember him as a person who really cared for every person he met.”
Francis is torn from a recent tradition and will be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary (Santa Maggiore), where a simple underground grave awaits him only by his name: Francisco.
He contributed to this report.