Pope Francis, a beloved advocate for the poor and reformer of the Catholic Church, was laid to rest on Saturday as 400,000 mourners, including world leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump, gathered to bid him farewell.
The Vatican reported that crowds filled St. Peter’s Square and lined the streets of Rome to honor the first Latin American leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Following a solemn funeral Mass, Pope Francis’s simple wooden coffin — a symbol of his lifelong humility — was taken to the Santa Maria Maggiore Church in Rome, his favorite sanctuary, for a private burial ceremony.
Before the interment, cardinals sealed the coffin with red wax, in a moving ritual captured in images released by the Vatican. Inside the marble tomb, only one word is inscribed: “Franciscus,” his papal name in Latin.
Among the mourners was Guatemalan pilgrim Maria Vicente, who tearfully clutched her rosary as the coffin entered the church. “It made me very sad. It’s touching that he left us like that,” she said. Choirs sang, flowers were laid at the altar, and children participated in the farewell tribute, embodying the Pope’s lifelong devotion to inclusiveness and compassion.
The funeral ceremony also marked a moment of global unity, drawing over 50 heads of state. President Trump met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inside St. Peter’s Basilica, their first in-person meeting since tensions flared between their countries earlier in the year. Other leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, also paid their respects.
Leading the funeral rites, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re praised Pope Francis for his “open heart” and unwavering belief that “the Church is a home for all, with doors always open.” Under clear blue skies, applause broke out among the crowds as he spoke about Francis’s efforts to make the Church more compassionate and inclusive.
Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 following a series of health struggles, left behind a legacy of advocacy for migrants, the poor, and the marginalized. His first papal journey to the migrant landing point of Lampedusa and his mass at the U.S.-Mexico border stood as powerful symbols of his commitment to “build bridges, not walls.”
Throughout his 12-year papacy, Francis championed reforms that stirred both admiration and controversy. He opened the Church’s doors wider to divorced and remarried Catholics, welcomed transgender believers, and offered blessings to same-sex couples, while firmly maintaining opposition to abortion.
Global security was heightened for the event, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on rooftops. Red-robed cardinals, purple-hatted bishops, and dignitaries sat in solemn silence, facing the simple cypress coffin adorned with a single pale cross.
Italian mourner Francesco Morello, reflecting on the day’s events, said, “He could not bring them together in life, but he managed it in death.”
Pope Francis’s death sparked a nine-day mourning period at the Vatican. Soon after, eligible cardinals will convene to elect his successor, marking the beginning of a new chapter in Church history.
In his final public act, Pope Francis delivered an Easter Sunday blessing, once again calling on the world to care for the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants — a fitting farewell for a pope who truly lived for the people.
