The touching reason this nun was able to pray next to the Pope’s coffin

Today is the last day visitors can see Pope Francis before his funeral and burial, and the queues to spot the pontiff in his coffin are hours long.

The thousands of people who have come to see the Pope lying in St Peter’s Basilica are kept a short distance away from his body for security reasons.

Francis was laid in front of the Papal Altar, which was stood over by four Swiss Guards – the traditional guard of honour of the papacy.

But cameras captured a touching moment in which a nun was able to stand close to the Pope’s coffin and offer a prayer for him, for a very touching reason.

French-Argentine nun Sister Genevieve Jeannigros approached the restricted area to pray close to the coffin of Francis on the first day of his lying-in-state, and the touching moment has gained attention.

Sister Genevieve, 81, was able to pray in the area reserved for bishops, priests and cardinals because of her nearly 40-year friendship with Francis.

The nun wiped away tears and offered a prayer (Picture: AFP) The Sister would bring audiences to see the Pope weekly (Picture: PA)

Officials ignored protocol to allow the Sister to offer a prayer before she began crying.

Sister Genevieve and Pope Francis first met when Francis was a Cardinal and the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

From there, their friendship grew, and the pair remained close after Francis was named Pope in 2013.

The pontiff even invited groups of homeless people, transgender women and fairground workers to eat lunch with him after Sister Genevieve brought the group to the Vatican weekly.

The nun lives and works in Ostia, a region in Rome, and has worked with the order of the Little Sisters of Jesus for more than 50 years to help the less fortunate, including transgender women, in the region.

In March, she was seen praying outside the hospital where the Pope was receiving treatment (Picture: Backgrid) Sister Genevieve has worked in Rome for more than 50 years (Picture: Backgrid)

More than 61,000 people have queued to see the pontiff since Wednesday ahead of the funeral, Vatican officials said.

Some pilgrims reported waits, at some points during rainfall, of at least three hours to make it inside.

Late into the night, people were shown running to join the end of the queue for a chance to pay their respects to Francis.

They had left it until the very last minute in the hopes that most people would have surrendered and gone home.

St Peter’s Basilica had initially been scheduled to close at midnight on Wednesday, but given the size of the crowds, officials kept it open until 5.30 am before it reopened at 7 am.

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