Pope Francis, the humble pontiff whose acts of inclusiveness, modesty and mercy rippled through his 12-year papacy, was laid to rest Saturday in a service he deliberately simplified.
Tens of thousands of mourners and dozens of world leaders and dignitaries packed St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the funeral, which got underway in bright sunshine and was being held mostly outdoors.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, who was presiding over the service, lauded Francis in his homily as “a pope among the people, with an open heart toward everyone.”
“He established direct contact with individuals and peoples, eager to be close to everyone, with a marked attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalized,” he said.
Pope Francis’ casket met by thousands of mourners
Pope Francis’ casket was met by thousands of mourners in honor of his 12-year papacy.
The Mass began with readings from the Scripture after Francis’ simple wooden coffin, adorned by a large cross, was carried into the square by white-gloved pallbearers. Applause echoed through the crowd as bells tolled.
Some mourners had camped out overnight to secure a spot. “We have been waiting all night,” Maria Fierro of Spain said. “Accompanying (Francis) in his last moments is very emotional.”
James Mary, a Franciscan nun, said she had been “up the whole night. We want to say goodbye because he (was a) living saint, very humble and simple.”
Francis, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died Easter Monday at 88 from a stroke, weeks after battling back from respiratory ailments. On Easter Sunday, the frail but resolute pope − who championed the poor and marginalized and was often called “the people’s pope” − thrilled crowds with an impromptu popemobile outing into St. Peter’s Square.
The Argentine pope, who contended with Catholic Church traditionalists opposed to his reforms, was known for his warm demeanor and for spurning any kind of grandeur: Living at a guesthouse in the Vatican, taking public transportation, wearing plain white cassocks. On his U.S. trip in 2015, he zipped around the nation’s capital in a small black Fiat.
Francis, who scaled back rules for papal funeral rites a year ago, made sure his own service and burial reflected that same message of simplicity − breaking from tradition even in death.
Pope Francis‘ funeral service is expected to take 90 minutes, compared to John Paul’s service in 2005 that last lasted three hours.
In his final testament, Francis asked to be buried inside the burial niche between Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani and Sforza Chapel, which are located within the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome instead of in the Grotto at St. Peter’s Basilica. He is the first pope being laid to rest outside the Vatican in almost a century.
The pope, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, also requested a “simple” burial: “The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, and bearing only the inscription: Franciscus,” he instructed.
St. Mary Major was special to Francis because of his devotion to Mary, Mother of God. He prayed there before and after many overseas trips.
President Donald Trump had a brief “private” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the funeral, White House communications director Steve Cheung said.
Cheung said the two leaders had a “very productive” conversation and that further details of the meeting would be made public in the coming hours.
It was the first meeting since Trump and Zelenskyy had a fiery clash in the Oval Office in February about how to reach a peace settlement with Russia over their war.
The order of service was published by the Vatican on its website.
It is 87 pages long and contains the service in English, Italian and Latin.
The Entrance Antiphon begins: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.”
Pope Francis’ coffin also breaks with papal tradition. Instead of being buried in three coffins − each made of cypress, lead and elm and placed inside the other − his coffin will be wooden and lined with zinc.
The coffin is shaped like a tapered hexagonal box. It it wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, resembling a human body.
− George Petras, Janet Loehrke
The security operation in and around Vatican City is in full swing.
The funeral has brought together dozens of world leaders and thousands of people from around the world who traveled to Rome to pay their respects.
About 2,000 local police officers are on duty at Pope’ Francis’ funeral. They are joined by thousands more officers from the national security forces. Security measures include patrols on the Tiber, drones and snipers.
Streets were closed to traffic around the Vatican on Saturday. Authorities also announced a no-fly zone over Rome for the week.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re spoke in his homily of the pope’s constant call to “build bridges, not walls” between people. The pope held a Mass on the U.S.-Mexico border to highlight what he described as the “human tragedy” of “forced migration” when he visited the area in 2016.
The cardinal also recalled that Franics’ first ever foreign trip as pope was when he went to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a key spot in Europe’s refugees and migrants crisis.
Francis met with refugees and migrants in Lampedusa.
Dozens of world leaders and heads of state are now in Rome. Some of them have clashed with both the pope and each other.
Pope Francis once said that President Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants were a “disgrace.” Before taking their seats, Trump and his wife Melania paid their respects to Francis’ coffin in St. Peter’s Basilica. The coffin was sealed shut on Friday night.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not had any easy time navigating Trump’s attempts to secure a peace deal for the Ukraine-Russia war. The two leaders clashed in an Oval Office meeting in late February. The two leaders briefly met before the service. Former President Joe Biden and wife Jill are also in Rome.
One notable absence is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who portrays himself as a main of serious faith. Putin is subject to an international criminal court arrest warrant over his invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin said he wouldn’t be attending.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the funeral Mass, which will be celebrated by patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests from around the world, the Vatican said.
The College of Cardinals decides who will be the next pope in a highly secretive ritual called a papal conclave. As dean, Re is one of the most senior figures in the church. He has spent five decades serving in the Roman curia, the church’s various administrative institutions.
In a biography on the College of Cardinals website, Re is described as having an “affable manner and efficient approach to issues and conflicts.”
Pope Francis’ simple tomb, inscribed with just “Franciscus” and a reproduction of his pectoral cross, is made of marble from Italy’s Liguria region, where Francis traces his family’s origins before they settled in his native Argentina, according to Vatican News.
Francis requested to be buried in a tomb made from Ligurian stone. The plaque of slate, described as a “fine-grained gray, green or bluish metamorphic rock,” commemorates Francis’ great-grandfather, Vincenzo Sivori, on his mother’s side, the news website said.
Franca Garbaino, president of the Slate District in Liguria, said it was “not a noble stone,” but instead it was “the people’s stone” that “gives warmth.”
Francis’ family traces back to Cogorno, located southeast of Genoa, the capital of Liguria.
− Eduardo Cuevas
The Swiss Guard has been protecting popes since the 1500s. Members have a ceremonial role but also a protective one and, to an extent, they are mercenaries. They wear distinctive uniforms with feathered helmets, ruffled collars and puffed-out sleeves.
They are sometimes referred to as the world’s smallest army and are trained to an elite level in counterintelligence, close-quarters combat and bomb disposal. They are independent of Switzerland’s army, though they are trained in Switzerland.
Competition to be a Swiss Guard is intense. There are only 135 of them.
The weather has been spectacular all week in Vatican City, and conditions for the funeral also look terrific, forecasters said.
“It should a nice and calm day,” AccuWeather meteorologist Jacob Hinson told USA TODAY. He said sunny to partly cloudy skies are expected, with highs in the 70s.
Wind should not be an issue either, he added, with gusts of only 6-10 mph in the forecast.
− Doyle Rice
About 250,000 people bid farewell to Francis through this week as the pope was lying in state at St. Peter’s. Lines stretched more than half a mile north of the Vatican, and some people reported waits of about three hours to get inside the basilica.
“He was a wonderful pope,” Alessandra Caccamo of Rome said as she waited outside the Vatican. “I’m going to miss him so much, because it’s like I’ve lost a piece of me.”
Rachel Mckay, from Britain, said Francis was “somebody who made the church very accessible to everybody and inclusive to everybody. He’s like a member of the family, somebody very close to our hearts.”
A conclave to choose a new pope normally takes place 15 to 20 days after the death of a pontiff, meaning it should not start before May 6. As of this week, there were 252 cardinals, of whom 135 are electors, according to the Vatican. Cardinals over the age of 80 are excluded from voting.
In medieval times, cardinals could take years to elect a new pope. Conclaves are much shorter now. Pope Francis was elected the day after the conclave began in 2013.
Voting takes place in a series of rounds until a clear winner emerges.
The world is waiting with bated breadth to find out who the next pontiff will be. Several names have emerged as possible front-runners, including bishops from Canada and the Philippines. Pope Francis was the first non-European pope elected in 1,300 years.
Contributing: Reuters
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