LATEST UPDATE 15:00
The burial ceremony of Pope Francis has been completed at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, dedicated to the Virgin.
Small children, refugees, migrants, homeless people, and many other “friends of Francis” left a white flower inside the church. Near the tomb of the “Pope of the poor” stands the Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary, before which the late pontiff often prayed.
A large crowd gathered in prayer in the historic center of Rome along the six-kilometer route covered by the funeral procession. The atmosphere was deeply emotional, with prayers and prolonged applause.
Tomorrow, the cardinals will visit Santa Maria Maggiore to venerate, and starting Monday, the basilica will open its doors to the faithful.
The Pontiff’s Funeral
The funeral ceremony lasted two hours and fifteen minutes. The bells tolled mournfully at the Vatican, and as the procession began, it carried the coffin of the late Argentine pontiff to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Along the way, large crowds of faithful gathered to bid their final farewell to the “Pope of the poor.”
According to the Vatican Press Office, more than 250,000 people participated in Pope Francis’s funeral.
The ceremony was attended by two hundred thousand faithful and fifty heads of state and government, while in Rome there were one hundred and seventy foreign delegations.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in the Italian capital yesterday afternoon, while the plane carrying U.S. President Donald Trump landed shortly before midnight.
The Ecumenical Patriarch, the “Brother in Christ” of the late Pontiff, was seated, according to Vatican protocol, very close to the coffin.
Among the leaders who had come to bid farewell to the Argentine Pontiff were French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Argentine President Javier Milei was also present, despite his strong criticism of many of the positions and statements of the Holy Father of the Roman Catholics.
In St. Peter’s Square, also from Argentina and standing alongside the world’s leaders, was Pope Francis’s grandson, Mauro Bergoglio. He works as a nurse and had stated that he wished to come to Rome but did not initially have the necessary funds for the trip. He was ultimately able to attend the funeral thanks to the owner of a travel agency in his home country, who offered to cover the cost of the plane tickets for him and his wife.
The funeral of the deceased Pontiff, according to his own wishes, was “the funeral of a shepherd and a disciple of the Lord, not one of the mighty of the earth,” as Francis himself had written.
After centuries of unchanged ritual, another tradition has also been set aside: the rule requiring the body of the deceased Pope to be placed inside three different wooden coffins.
For Pope Francis, a simple wooden coffin had been prepared. As he requested for this final journey, he was wearing his old, worn-out shoes — the ones he used during his pastoral travels.
After the funeral, the coffin was carried in procession to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, near the main railway station of the Eternal City.
It is there, just a few meters from the Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child — before which he used to kneel and pray upon returning from abroad — that Pope Francis, the “Pope of the poor,” asked to be buried.
The procession covered a distance of six kilometers through the historic center of Rome. At the basilica, forty “friends of Francis” will be waiting for the coffin: immigrants, prisoners, trans individuals, and homeless people — people whom the Pope had personally met, listened to, and tried to support in his own direct and compassionate way. Each of them will place a white rose, the flower that Jorge Mario Bergoglio loved most, on his tomb.
However, cameras were permitted inside the church to film the burial ceremony. Santa Maria Maggiore will reopen to the public on Monday, when it is expected that a new wave of pilgrims will begin visiting the simple marble tomb of the Latin American Pope.
More than 200,000 Faithful Attend the Funeral
According to Vatican figures, the faithful from around the world attending the funeral of Pope Francis have exceeded 200,000.
In addition to the eulogy delivered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prayers and reflections were offered in French, Arabic, German, Polish, and Chinese.
Excerpts were also read from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John.
The faithful applauded and were deeply moved, especially during Cardinal Re’s references to Pope Francis’s humanity, simplicity, and profound contribution as the Holy Father of Catholics.
“Christ is Risen” Was Chanted
“Christ is Risen” was chanted in St. Peter’s Basilica shortly before the funeral of Pope Francis concluded.
This year, the Catholic and Orthodox Easter coincided, and the chanting served as a sign and reference to Pope Francis’s long-standing wish for a common celebration of Easter.
Afterwards, the liturgy for the departed was celebrated.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re: Pope Francis Always Stood by the Weak and Worked for Peace
“I thank all the international leaders who are showing their love for the Pope,” emphasized Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re in St. Peter’s Square.
“The work of the late Pontiff touched our hearts and minds. The last image that will remain in our hearts is that of Easter, when he blessed the faithful and greeted the crowd from the popemobile, despite his health problems. He followed the example of the Good Shepherd, who loved his flock so much that he devoted his life to it,” the cardinal added.
As Giovanni Battista Re highlighted, “Francis wanted to stand by everyone, especially those in difficulty, spending all his energy for the poor and forgotten. He was full of humanity and also reached out to those distant from the Church,” because “for the late Pontiff, the Church must always keep its doors open to all.”
The eldest of the cardinals emphatically referred to Pope Francis’s first trip after his election, to the island of Lampedusa, “and later to his visit to Lesvos, alongside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos.”
Always guided by solidarity and support for migrants and refugees, because, as Francis used to say, “we all belong to the same human family, and no one is saved alone.”
“Francis always called for peace, urging honest negotiation, because war only brings death and destruction and is always a defeat,” the elderly Italian cardinal concluded.
Photos: ANA-MPA/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Dimitris Papamitsos/EUROKINISSI
