ROME — Saturday, 26 April 2025
Pope Francis, who led the Catholic Church for more than a decade, was laid to rest on Saturday in one of Rome’s oldest and most cherished churches — a quiet farewell in keeping with the humility that defined his papacy.
After a solemn funeral mass in St Peter’s Square, his body was taken to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Vatican confirmed. The ceremony was brief — just 30 minutes — and deeply personal, held at 1 p.m. local time.
Footage released by the Vatican showed pallbearers carrying the late pontiff’s simple wooden coffin into the basilica. Cardinals sealed it with red wax, and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, acting as the Vatican’s camerlengo, sprinkled holy water over it before it was gently lowered into a marble tomb.
Above the tomb now hangs a reproduction of the pectoral cross that Pope Francis wore throughout his life. The inscription on the grave is simple: “Franciscus,” his name in Latin.
A Burial True to His Spirit
The pope, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, had left clear instructions. He wished for a plain resting place, near the altar of Saint Francis, inside the fifth-century basilica he loved so dearly.
The marble used for his tomb was sourced from Liguria in northern Italy, the land of his forebears. It is the same modest material that has long lined this ancient church, reflecting his wish for simplicity even in death.
Santa Maria Maggiore held special meaning for Francis. Before every journey abroad, and upon his return, he would stop here to pray before an icon of the Virgin Mary — a tradition he kept up throughout his papacy.
In 2023, he made it known that he wanted to be buried there.
A Break from Tradition
The basilica, located in the heart of Rome, is one of the city’s four major papal churches. It already holds the remains of seven popes, but the last to be buried there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.
Recent popes — including John Paul II and Benedict XVI — were laid to rest beneath St Peter’s Basilica. Francis’s choice to break with that tradition speaks volumes about the quieter, more pastoral legacy he hoped to leave.
Santa Maria Maggiore is also the resting place of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the great Baroque artist who designed St Peter’s Square and shaped the face of Rome in the 17th century.
Built under Pope Sixtus III in the early 5th century, the basilica is one of the Catholic Church’s most treasured sites. It holds sacred relics, including what is believed to be wood from the manger where Jesus was laid, and a revered icon of the Virgin Mary said to be painted by Saint Luke himself.
As Francis’s coffin disappeared into the stone alcove, mourners inside the basilica sat in silence, heads bowed in prayer. Outside, the bells of Rome tolled — a final salute to a pope who, in life and in death, chose humility over grandeur.
