An estimated 200,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square and neighboring streets April 26 to attend the funeral Mass for Pope Francis at the Vatican. (Photos by Stefano Spaziani / pool / CNS)
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was “a pope among the people, with an open heart toward everyone,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, as he presided over the funeral of the pope, who died April 21 at the age of 88.
And the people — an estimated 200,000 of them — were present as 14 pallbearers carried Pope Francis’ casket into St. Peter’s Square and set it on a carpet in front of the altar for the funeral Mass April 26.
His burial took place later the same day in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major after being driven in a motorcade through the center of the city where he served as bishop from the day of his election to the papacy March 13, 2013.
Security around the Vatican was tight, not only because of the number of mourners expected but especially because of the presence of kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers from more than 80 countries and official representatives from scores of other nations.
Also present were the residents of a Vatican palace Pope Francis had turned into a shelter for the homeless and the 12 Syrian refugees he brought to Rome with him from a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos in 2016.
The Gospel reading at the funeral was John 21:15-19 where the Risen Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” And when Peter says yes, Jesus tells him, “Feed my sheep.”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, used incense to bless the casket of Pope Francis during the pope’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS)
“Despite his frailty and suffering toward the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life,” Cardinal Re said in his homily. “He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved his sheep to the point of giving his life for them.”
The 91-year-old cardinal told the crowd that the image of Pope Francis that “will remain etched in our memory” was his appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica the day before he died to give his Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) and then to ride in the popemobile among the people who came to celebrate Christ’s victory over death.
“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” Cardinal Re said.
The Vatican estimated that 250,000 people — many of whom waited in line for hours — filed past the late pope’s body in St. Peter’s Basilica April 23-25.
Within the church, the cardinal said, “the guiding thread” of Pope Francis’ ministry was his “conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.”
For Pope Francis, he said, the church was a “field hospital,” one “capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”
With U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olga Lyubimova, Russian minister of culture, seated near the altar, Cardinal Re said that “faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions.”
“‘Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times, and his service of faith as successor of the Apostle Peter always was linked to the service of humanity in all its dimensions,” the cardinal said.
Cardinal Re also recalled Pope Francis’ constant concern for migrants and refugees from his first papal trip outside of Rome to pray for migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, his visit to Lesbos and his celebration of Mass in 2016 on the U.S.-Mexican border.
At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome, offered special prayers for the city’s deceased bishop, Pope Francis. Then Eastern Catholic patriarchs and major archbishops gathered around the casket and led funeral prayers from the Byzantine tradition in honor of the pastor of the universal Catholic Church.
After the Mass, the casket bearing Pope Francis’ body made its final journey through the streets of Rome accompanied by applause and shouts of gratitude from thousands of mourners.
Pallbearers carried Pope Francis’ coffin through St. Peter’s Basilica, stopping briefly at the steps leading to St. Peter’s tomb before placing it on a retrofitted popemobile parked outside.
According to the Vatican and Italian police, some 150,000 people watched the pope’s casket pass by.
When the casket arrived at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, pallbearers carried it in a solemn procession down the central nave.
Before reaching the pope’s final resting place, the pallbearers stopped in front of the chapel where Pope Francis often laid flowers and prayed before the icon of Mary. This time, two boys and two girls carried baskets of white flowers and set them before the altar under the Marian icon.
The pallbearers then made their way to Pope Francis’ tomb, where Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, camerlengo of the papal household, presided over the burial rite. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni earlier told journalists that the actual burial would not be broadcast live.
In a statement released April 24, the Vatican press office said “a group of the poor and needy will be present on the steps” leading to the papal basilica to welcome his casket.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera also reported that five prisoners from Rome’s Rebibbia prison were given special permission to be present at the basilica and attend the pope’s burial.
The pope had a special affection for prisoners, celebrating Holy Thursday Mass almost every year at a prison or jail. On April 17, just four days before his death, Pope Francis visited Rome’s Regina Coeli jail.
Members of the College of Cardinals prayed April 27 at the tomb of Pope Francis and attended vespers at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. The general public also has been able to visit the Marian basilica to offer their prayers and respects. (Lola Gomez / CNS)
The Basilica of St. Mary Major was dear to Pope Francis throughout his pontificate as he would often go to pray before the icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“Health — or salvation — of the Roman people”), especially before and after his papal trips.
The Vatican previewed an image of St. Francis’ tomb, which was created with marble from the northern Italian region of Liguria, the land of the late pope’s grandparents, and inscribed with the Latin version of his name: Franciscus. It also features a large reproduction of his pectoral cross.
In his final testament, which was published by the Vatican shortly after his death April 21, the pope expressed his wish to be buried at the basilica dedicated to Mary to whom he had entrusted his “priestly and episcopal life and ministry.”
The pope further explained his reasons in his autobiography, “Hope,” which was published in January. In it, he said he would not be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica because “the Vatican is the home of my last service, not my eternal home.”
Cindy Wooden, Junno Arocho Esteves and Justin McLellan of Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
