April 26 (UPI) — Pope Francis on Sunday was laid to rest after a funeral mass with more than 250,000 mourners and more than 130 world leaders less than a week after he died of a stroke and heart failure at 88.
The funeral was shown live around the world, including to the 1.3 billion Catholics.
Francis died on Monday morning, one day after Easter when he joined faithful at St. Peter’s Square.
After lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica for three days, the simple coffin was moved out into the piazza on a warm and clear day.
The bells at St. Peter’s Basilica tolled as congregation members took their seats for the two-hour funeral service outside at St. Peter’s Square, which started at 10 a.m. local time.
Saturday’s funeral included U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Placed on top of Pope Francis’ closed coffin was an open Book of the Gospels. The service included several prayers. Most music was sung in plainchant, which is lines of music chanted by priests and the choir.
Priests and other celebrants distributed Holy Communion, which is bread and wine, among the cardinals. The choir sang psalm 129 in Latin. In English, it is “out of the depths I cry to you O Lord; Lord year my voice!”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, officiated, leading the Eucharistic Prayer, offering the faithful to the service of God, before reading his sermon on the footsteps of the basilica.
He described Francis as a “pope among the people” and praised his ability to lead with “an open heart towards everyone.”
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization” Re said. “His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant.”
He noted Francis’ first journey as pope was to Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean, which is the first port of call for people crossing from north Africa.
Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, advocated for people in war-torn communities, including Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and South Sudan.
“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 inviting honest negotiation to find possible solutions. War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” Re said.
Re prayed for Francis, he said, as Francis used to pray for others.
“Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying ‘do not forget to pray for me.’ Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.”
Near the end of the homily he said: “Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation 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 coffin then was taken in the white popemobile over the River Tube to Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore as roughly 150,000 people watched and mourned along the procession route.
Pallbearers lifted Francis’ coffin into the basilica. Francis was interred in the gold basilica at the highest point of the Italian capital. The ceremony there began at 1 p.m. local time and ended 30 minutes later.
It was inscribed with the word: “Franciscus.” His name was chosen in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.
Those who were there included working poor.
“For this reason, a group of poor and needy people will be present on the steps leading to the papal Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore to pay their last respects to Pope Francis before the burial of his coffin,” according to a Holy See statement.
He was the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in more than a century, according to officials. Francis chose the site because he prayed there often, in addition to being a place he frequented during the worst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
There were three separate stages after his death: Preparation of the body, the viewing of the body and then the burial. This past week, tens of thousands of people paid their respects to Francis.
Nine days of official mourning began immediately at the conclusion of the funeral mass. Then, the College of Cardinals, made up of 252 representatives from countries around the world, will gather to launch the secret process to elect a new pope.
Francis appointed about four-fifths of the cardinals who will choose the next pope since his election on March 13, 2013.
