‘A Pope Among The People’: Mourners Bid Farewell To Francis
A crowd of 250,000 gathered in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to bid a final farewell to Pope Francis, who was remembered as having had “an open heart towards everyone.”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the two-hour Mass, which featured a mix of several languages, including Latin, Italian, English and Spanish.
In his homily, Re eulogized Francis as a pastor who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” using an informal, often spontaneous style.
The multitude of mourners broke into applause several times during the homily.
Seated to the right of the main altar were more than 150 foreign delegations — including President Donald Trump, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Javier Milei of Argentina, where Francis was born. Former President Joe Biden, a Catholic, also attended.
Re called Francis “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”
“Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying, ‘Do not forget to pray for me,’” Re said. “Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us.”
Re also recalled the last image many have of Francis from Easter Sunday delivering what would be his final blessing and saluting from the popemobile in the same piazza where his funeral was celebrated just six days later.
‘We now entrust the soul of our pontiff to God’
Pope Francis’ casket before it was brought into St. Peter’s Square for his funeral. (Photo courtesy of Vatican Media)
“May you bless the church, bless Rome and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope,” Re said.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit pontiff, died on Monday at the age of 88 after suffering from cardiac arrest while recovering from pneumonia.
As bells rang out at the start of the outdoor Mass, applause greeted the pope’s coffin — inlaid with a large cross — as it was brought out of St. Peter’s Basilica and into the square by 14 white-gloved pallbearers.
Tens of thousands had poured into St. Peter’s Square as early as dawn, joining world leaders in a ceremony Francis himself had choreographed, a much simpler one compared to previous papal funerals.
Nonetheless, the Mass featured centuries-old rites, Gregorian chants and plenty of incense, all overseen by Re and other red-robed cardinals.
The readings also reflected the importance of the papacy. The first, from the Acts of the Apostles 10: 34-43, represents a major moment in the early Christianity when Peter – whom Catholics consider the first pope – learns through a vision that the good news of the Gospel is not just for the original followers, but the world.
The second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 3:20-4:1, argues that a Christian’s true citizenship is not on Earth, but heaven. The third and final reading, John 21: 15-19, recounts a conversation between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection, in which the disciple is restored to faith and given the leadership role in the early church.
The pages of the New Testament placed atop Francis’ coffin fluttered in the wind as Re blessed it with holy water.
“With our prayers, we now entrust the soul of our beloved pontiff to God, that he may grant him eternal happiness in the bright and glorious gaze of his immense love,” Re said.
Procession through the streets of Rome
Pope Francis’ final resting place will be the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. (Wikipedia Commons)
Shortly after the funeral, Francis’ body was brought into procession across Rome with the help of a police escort.
Instead of being buried in the grottoes under the Vatican, Francis was laid to rest at the nearby Basilica of St. Mary Major, known in Italian as Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
Some 300,000 people lined the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) route that brought Francis’ coffin – placed on the back of a modified popemobile used during his 2015 trip to the Philippines – from the Vatican through the center of the Eternal City, past the Colosseum to the basilica.
The last pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican’s walls was Leo XIII, who died in 1903 after he had requested to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran.
In his will, Francis requested a tomb with only the inscription “Franciscus” — Francis in Latin — and specified that it “must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration.”
The late pope had a special devotion to the church. It is home to the Salus Populi Romani icon of Mary, which dates back to the Byzantine era and is housed in the Pauline chapel in the basilica’s left nave. The basilica is also the burial site of seven other popes.
Before and after every foreign trip, Francis made it a ritual to go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary in a blue robe holding the baby Jesus.
“I’ve always had a great devotion to St. Mary Major, even before I became pope,” Pope Francis said in the 2024 book “El Sucesor" (“The Successor”).
Pope Francis stopped by the basilica on his way home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, following his 38-day stay for double pneumonia, to deliver flowers before the icon. He returned to pray there for one last time on April 12.
“Just beyond the sculpture of the Queen of Peace, there’s a small recess, a door that leads to a room where candelabras were stored,” Francis said. “I saw it and thought, ‘This is the place.’”
You can read this story in Spanish here.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged.