The final call lasted 30 seconds. Just enough time to say hello and ask if everyone was okay. But for Gaza’s tiny Christian population, the phone call from Pope Francis was a ray of hope that shone through the horrors of war.

For Palestinians, it became a daily reminder that Gaza was not forgotten.

“He shows us his paternity. He is very close to us,” said Romanelli. “All the time he called us throughout this war – this horrible war – for more than a year and a half, he would call for peace and send his blessings to all of Gaza’s people.”

From the beginning, Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war and was an outspoken critic of Israel’s siege on the territory. In his Easter message the day before he died, he wished that “the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world.”

“I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” Francis’ message said. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”

The Holy Family Church in Gaza has become a shelter for the enclave’s tiny Christian community. Displaced by Israel’s bombardment of the territory, Christian families have turned to the parish as a place to find relative safety. Makeshift tents fill the crammed courtyard, the solid edifice of the church overlooking the flimsy havens. According to the church and Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes have killed around 20 members of the enclave’s small Christian community. Some Muslim children and their families have come to the church as well, the church said.

“His Holiness the pope was not an ordinary person,” said Musa Antone, a Christian resident of Gaza. “He was a man of faith who inquired about both Christians and Muslims.”

“It is true that we have lost his body, but we will not lose him as a spirit,” Antone said.

In May 2014, Francis made his only visit to the occupied West Bank. He never visited Gaza, but the Holy Family Church described his concern for the enclave as a “father’s anxiety for his children.”

The world’s Catholic population numbers around 1.4 billion. In Gaza, fewer than 1,400 Christians remain, and the number of Catholics is smaller still – an almost invisible minority within an overwhelmingly Muslim Palestinian society. Pope Francis could have overlooked them, as they represented less than 0.0001% of his global flock. He could have called less often.

But he refused.

“He was so sick but insisted to do that call as usual.”

The body of Pope Francis is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, where it will remain for three days until his funeral Saturday, expected to be attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump.

His body was transferred to the basilica during a procession earlier Wednesday, and was followed by a service led by Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell, the cardinal tasked with making arrangements for Pope Francis’ funeral and the conclave in the weeks ahead.

Francis’ coffin was laid at the Altar of the Confessio, a sacred space in front of the main above the tomb of St. Peter, the first pope.

Cardinals in the basilica approached the coffin in pairs to pay their respects. From 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), members of the public will be able to visit Francis’ body.

Thousands of mourners are waiting outside the basilica in St. Peter’s Square, ahead of the official opening.

As part of Francis’ push to simplify the papal funeral rites, his body is lying in state in an open wooden coffin, having done away with the tradition of having three coffins of cypress, lead and oak.

Wednesday’s procession began with Francis’ body being moved from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his papacy. Francis died at Casa Santa Marta on Easter Monday at the age of 88 of a stroke and heart failure, according to the Vatican.

The coffin traveled through Piazza Santa Marta and the Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani, passing through the Arch of the Bells and into St. Peter’s Square, before entering St. Peter’s Basilica through the central door.

Bells tolled slowly as the coffin entered the basilica at 9.30 a.m. local time (3.30 a.m. ET) Wednesday, while mourners in the piazza outside broke into applause.

Before the procession, Camerlengo Farrell, held a brief service in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta with a short antiphon, or chant, of hope.

“Let us thank the Lord for countless gifts that he bestowed on the Christian people through His servant Pope Francis,” the Camerlengo said in prayer. “Let us ask him in his mercy and kindness to grant the late pope an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven and to comfort with celestial hope, the papal family, the church in Rome and the faithful throughout the world.”

Later Wednesday, at St. Peter’s Basilica, the camerlengo presided over the service, known at the Liturgy of the Word, that allowed attendees to pay their respects to the late pope.

During the service, Farrell dispensed Holy Water over Francis’ body. The service included a reading from John’s Gospel, in which Jesus says to God: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The congregation recited several religious verses, including psalm 22, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Attendees also recited the Catholic customary prayers of the dead during the liturgy.

The service finished with the Salve Regina, one of the four principal Marian antiphons, prayers to Jesus’ mother Mary.

For those who wish to visit the pope and pay their respects, the basilica will be open on Wednesday until midnight, on Thursday from 7 a.m. to midnight local time, and Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.

After lying in state for three days, Francis’ funeral will begin at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) Saturday – six days after his death. The last papal funeral – for Pope Benedict XVI in 2023 – was also held six days after his death.

The Vatican announced that Francis’ funeral will be held outside, in St. Peter’s Square. Previous papal funerals have also been held outside, with thousands of mourners filling the open space in front of the basilica.

A string of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have confirmed they will travel to the Vatican for the service. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among the major European leaders traveling to the Vatican.

Tens of thousands of others are expected to show up. About 50,000 people came to Benedict’s funeral in 2023, while around 300,000 attended John Paul’s in 2005.

The pope passed away the morning after the holiest day in the Christian year, when the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite his poor health, Francis was seen a number of times in public at the Vatican during Holy Week, culminating in an Easter Sunday appearance where he delighted crowds at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

His death from a stroke and heart failure was affected other by other ailments, including a “previous episode of acute respiratory failure,” arterial hypertension and type II diabetes, according to a Vatican press office statement, signed by the Director of the Health and Hygiene Directorate of the Vatican City State Andrea Arcangeli.

Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe’s Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted.

His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher’s 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door.

Last October’s pursuit ultimately began much further afield, in the sleepy Welsh town of Carmarthen, where Shinga was born and raised. It’s home to the kennels of Dogs4Wildlife, a non-profit organization that trains dogs to support anti-poaching units (APUs) in their efforts to protect endangered wildlife across southern Africa.

It’s run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015.

“We can deploy dogs in the UK to track people … to look for drugs, firearms and explosives, so why could we not look at developing the dogs that we were training for conservation efforts?”

Puppy love

The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales.

They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice.

Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later.

“There’s a lot of scientific study out there that’s been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they’re very young,” he explained

“It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.”

The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat.

The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife.

Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier.

“The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,” Law said.

“But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they’re going for the greater good.”

Biting back

Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies.

They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa’s first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe’s vast Phundundu Wildlife Area.

Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga’s tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

Such victories demonstrate the “game-changing” value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence.

“When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,” Priddle said.

“Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.”

As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe’s 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school.

Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to “own the night,” Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal.

And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone.

“It’s had a massive impact on security for Imire. We’ve had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It’s not the silver bullet but it’s a tool that will make a significant difference.”

‘We learn in nature’

Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino.

The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country’s rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent.

Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise.

And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent’s most renowned parks.

Recalling the sight of a de-horned 25-year-old bull rhino and eight-year-old male in Limpopo, both killed by a single poacher, Law stressed the knock-on effect on the wider environment.

“The vegetation they clear, the seeds they disperse, all the other animals that are impacted. You think it’s just a rhino that’s gone – it’s the whole ecosystem that suffers,” Law explained.

“The owners of that reserve had a relationship with that bull for 25 years – we grieve when we lose a dog after 10 to 15 years. For us to experience the impact that losing those two rhinos had on the reserve owner sort of gave us added motivation.

“It was just horrific. I never want to see that again.”

As Dogs4Wildlife looks ahead to its long-term goal of one day opening a specialized training and canine school within Africa, mobilizing future generations has become a key part of its overall mission.

Its Conservation club, called Siyafunda Ngemvelo – which translates to “we learn in nature” in IsiZulu – has taken more than 180 South African children into reserves as part of a wildlife education program.

Law said that for local people to want to protect rhinos, they must first see the animals’ value to the environment.

“We have to start at the fundamental basics, which is children taking responsibility for their own wildlife,” she added.

“Once they get the passion for it, they’re going to become future rangers, not future poachers.”