Londoners and tourists mourn Pope Francis as the Catholic church enjoys new lease of life

They filled the pews of Westminster Cathedral and thronged its side chapels. They stood at the back and in the aisles. Some even knelt on the marble floors.

The requiem mass for Pope Francis on Monday evening drew an enormous crowd of locals and tourists alike – the grieving, the pious and the simply curious – to the central London home of the Catholic church in England and Wales.

Although it sometimes runs counter to many visitors’ expectations, metropolitan London is by far the most religious city in Britain due to its status as a magnet for immigrants from the developing world, where religion is stronger than in the West.

Among the English Catholics praying at the cathedral on Monday evening I heard the accents of many Hispanics, Caribbeans, Africans, Southeast Asians whom I took to be Filipinos, Europeans including Italians and French, and even a few from Ireland.