Pope Francis laid to rest at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Vatican City, Apr 26 (EFE).-
The body of Pope Francis was laid to rest at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on Saturday after a funeral attended by leaders and representatives of some 140 countries and thronged by around 250,000 people at Saint Peter’s Square.
The burial was a private ceremony presided over by Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrel and in the presence of the relatives of the deceased pontiff.
The burial rite of the pope’s coffin began at 1pm local time (11:00 GMT) and ended half an hour later, the Vatican press office said.
Also present at the ceremony were the cardinals who accompanied the coffin during the funeral procession through the streets of Rome to St. Mary Major, where the image of the Virgin Mary “Salus Populi Romani” is located.
The tomb of Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88, will have a marble tombstone from Liguria (north), the land of his Italian ancestors.
The funeral was a solemn and emotional ceremony in which the legacy of Francis’ 12 years as the head of the Catholic church was recalled, where he always stood in support of the most downtrodden.
The ceremony was attended by prominent world leaders, from the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to those of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy; France, Emmanuel Macron; and head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Other heads of state and government included Argentina’s Javier Milei, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, the Dominican Luis Abinader and the Honduran Xiomara Castro, as well as Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
Despite the solemnity of the event, the funeral was overshadowed by the current news by Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican shortly before the ceremony began.
The photo of both leaders sitting on chairs placed between the marbles and Vatican columns went around the world, as the meeting comes amid increased contacts between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow to seek a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine.
Trump also met with Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and also shook hands with Von der Leyen in front of the pope’s coffin, a significant gesture in the midst of Trump’s tariff war with Europe and most of the world.
Meanwhile, at the funeral mass, the Dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the ceremony, paid a glowing tribute to the deceased pope, recalling words that urged for “building bridges and not walls” and his support for the poor and downtrodden.
In this regard, he recalled his first official trip as pope to the island of Lampedusa and also the mass at the border between the US and Mexico.
Moreover, Re’s words came with several ultra-right wing and anti-immigration politicians, such as Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others, sitting in the audience.
Re also recalled the pope’s direct contact with the people and his dedication towards their problems, apart from his criticism of war and violence championing the cause of peace and acceptance.
The homily received a loud ovation from the tens of thousands present at St. Peter’s Square, after which a funeral procession was taken out through the streets of Rome – where some 150,000 people gathered to see Francis for the last time in his Popemobile -, before being taken to St. Mary Major, where Pope Francis had wished to be buried.
From Sunday onwards, the faithful can visit his simple tomb – which he had commissioned when alive – bearing a single inscription: FRANCISCUS, his papal name, and a reproduction of his pectoral cross in silver. EFE
Afterwards, he was taken to the tomb that Francis commissioned in life, for a burial behind closed doors, while the temple will open its doors to the faithful from Sunday morning for those who want to visit his simple tomb with a single inscription: FRANCISCUS, his papal name, and an expanded reproduction of his pectoral cross in silver. EFE ccg-mr/sc
