The earthly remains of Pope Francis were laid to rest on Saturday afternoon in Rome at the Basilica of St Mary Major, near the icon of Mary he venerated and as he requested. It followed his funeral Mass on St Peter’s Square at the Vatican and a four kilometre-journey through people-lined streets of Rome.
The interment ceremony inside was private, but followed camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell marking the Pope’s coffin with his seal before the remains were laid in a simple tomb and sprinkled with holy water. The Regina Caeli prayer was said and the official act confirming the burial was read aloud before being signed by Cardinal Farrell.
Estimates indicate that as many as 250,000 people attended the funeral Mass earlier with a further 150,000 lining the streets of Rome as people said goodbye to their Bishop. On Friday evening, figures released by the Vatican said approximately 250,000 people had filed past the coffin of Pope Francis in St Peter’s Basilica between 11am on Wednesday and 6pm on Friday.
The Mass on St Peter’s Square took place on Saturday morning in glorious sunshine and was celebrated by Dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re (91) who, in his homily, spoke of how the late Pope Francis, ”despite his frailty and suffering towards the end” still chose “to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life”.
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He was the Good Shepherd who, last Sunday, and “despite his serious health problems, wanted to give us his blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica”.
Recalling “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”, the Cardinal said.
Francis was “a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a Pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.”
Francis’s image was of the Church as a “field hospital” and he had memorable outreach to migrants and refugees, as exemplified by the visits to Lampedusa, Lesbos, and the US-Mexico border.
Speaking of Francis’s 47 trips abroad, Cardinal Re highlighted his visit to Iraq in 2021 as a “pastoral balm” in the context of interreligious relations. He also noted how Francis, through resolute leadership had also “immediately made his mark on the governance of the Church”.
Earlier the wood coffin carrying the remains of Pope Francis had been carried into the Square by 14 pallbearers and was laid on a carpeted forecourt of St Peter’s Basilica, when a copy of the gospels was placed in its top.
The Mass itself was as you would find at most Catholic funerals, albeit with the Sistine Chapel Choir and 250 cardinals present as well as upwards of 130 countries represented, including 10 reigning monarchs and about 50 heads of state.
Among the dignitaries were President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the British prime minister Keir Starmer and Prince William, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and US president Donald Trump.
One of the abiding memories of the funeral will be a photograph of Mr Trump and President Zelenskiy sitting on two chairs on a marble floor in St Peter’s Basilica before the Mass, both in intense conversation.
Mr Trump, Mr Zelenskiy, Mr Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron had a positive meeting on the sidelines of the funeral, it was reported.
Arriving for the funeral late on Friday night, Taoiseach Micheál Martin described Pope Francis as “a people’s Pope who reached out”. He was “very inclusive and, in our view, through his pastoral approach won many friends and opened many doors.”
It was, he said, “a particular honour to be here, as Taoiseach,” in recognition of “his very strong leadership both spiritually and also in recognition of very strong relationship between Ireland and the Vatican”.
There were, the Taoiseach said, “the many common issues that we worked on together particularly in the area of climate, foreign policy, human rights and his very strong and fearless stance on war, conflict, particularly in more recent times, in the Middle East, Sudan, and indeed in many areas around the world”.
In a statement after the funeral Tánaiste Simon Harris said “the scale of the global response to his passing and the unprecedented attendance at his funeral speak to the profound impact Pope Francis had during his time as the leader of the Catholic Church”.
The late Pope was “a moral voice on the world stage, advocating tirelessly for peace, for climate justice, for the poor and the displaced. In Ireland, he will forever hold a special place in our hearts for his historic visit in 2018. That visit was a moment of reflection and dialogue, of healing and hope, and it resonated deeply with people of all faiths and none,” he said.
