Following criticism that they had not effectively kept phone use in check the previous day, Vatican officials told visitors on Thursday to put their phones away and not take any photos as they went by the coffin.
According to a 1996 Vatican directive, photographing or filming the Pope on "his sickbed or after death" is forbidden except in cases where the interim administrator, known as the camerlengo, approves for documentary purposes.
In the almost 30 years since the directive was issued, technological advances have made smartphones — and their onboard cameras — ubiquitous and have sometimes led to awkward situations when public figures die, and the solemnity of ceremony and ritual competes with the personal desire to document the moment.