Michelle O’Neill: ‘Huge honour’ to represent at Pope Francis funeral

First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said it was a “huge honour” to be at Pope Francis’ funeral, representing “all those people at home who looked towards him for spiritual leadership”.

O’Neill, who cut short a family holiday to attend, said it was a “huge historic moment”.

She said Pope Francis had been “admired by so many, myself included”.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly did not attend the funeral.

Speaking to BBC News NI after the funeral, O’Neill called Pope Francis “a man of humility, a man who practised what he preached and was very much on the side of the marginalised and of the poor, who spoke up against injustice wherever he saw it”.