 His funeral procession into Rome was the largest congregation of Romans as of that date . Romans mourned " their " pope , who was born in their own city , especially as a hero in the time of war . Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli ( later to be Pope John XXIII ) wrote in his diary on 11 October 1958 that probably no Roman emperor had enjoyed such a triumph , which he viewed as a reflection of the spiritual majesty and religious dignity of the late Pius XII . 
