Pope Francis laid to rest in historic farewell at Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, Italy
Under Rome’s gentle spring skies, more than 250,000 mourners from around the world flooded St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to bid farewell to Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, who died last week at the age of 88.
In a moving break from tradition, Pope Francis was laid to rest at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major — becoming the first pope in over a century to choose a resting place outside the Vatican walls. The decision reflected his lifelong commitment to humility, compassion, and service to the forgotten.
The solemn Requiem Mass was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, whose voice broke at moments as he spoke of Francis’s tireless fight for peace, dignity, and the poor. Behind him stood a sea of red-robed cardinals, bishops, priests, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary faithful stretching beyond Bernini’s grand colonnades.
Among the crowd stood world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prince William and President William Ruto among others united in a rare moment of quiet solidarity.
Applause broke out as Francis’s simple wooden casket, adorned only with a cross, emerged from St. Peter’s Basilica, carried by 14 white-gloved pallbearers. His final procession through Rome’s ancient streets drew another 150,000 mourners, waving flowers, shedding tears, and whispering last words of farewell: “Long live the Pope!”
True to his spirit, Pope Francis’s farewell defied tradition. By personal request, he was buried in a plain wooden box lined with zinc — a stark contrast to the ornate caskets of his predecessors. His choice of Saint Mary Major, the church where he once prayed for migrants and mourned victims of war, underscored his lifelong dedication to radical humility.
As Rome’s golden light faded, one thing became clear: Francis’s legacy will not be etched in marble tombs, but in the countless lives he touched across the world.
