Pope Francis Laid to Rest at St. Mary Major, a Church Close to His Heart
Pope Francis has been laid to rest less than a week after his passing.
The funeral for the beloved pontiff began on the morning of Saturday, April 26, in St. Peter’s Square, in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The service, led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, concluded with the traditional Ultima commendatio and Valedictio rites.
Following the Mass, Francis’ coffin was carried in a widely watched procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he was privately buried. His burial at St. Mary Major makes him the first pope in over a century not to be laid to rest at St. Peter’s Basilica.
For Pope Francis, St. Mary Major held deep personal significance.
“It’s especially beautiful because of Pope Francis’ love for the basilica of Mary Major, which began when he was a cardinal,” Father Patrick Briscoe, a Dominican friar and editor of Our Sunday Visitor, told PEOPLE. “Whenever he visited the Vatican as a cardinal, he would pray before the icon of the Virgin Mary there, the Salus Populi Romani. He continued that practice throughout his papacy. It wasn’t a papal custom — it was his personal devotion.”
Briscoe also noted the fitting symbolism in Francis’ final resting place:
“Pope Francis’ first public act as pope was to visit St. Mary Major to pray at the tomb of St. Pius V. It’s moving that, after concluding his ministry, he returns to the place where it began.”
Throughout his papacy, Francis visited St. Mary Major over 100 times, often stopping to pray before and after overseas trips. His devotion was evident even during times of personal hardship: after being released from the hospital in March following respiratory illness, he made a special visit to the basilica to lay flowers. His final visit came on April 12, just days before his death on April 21 from a cerebral stroke.
Although seven other popes have been buried at St. Mary Major, most were laid to rest there during the long construction period of St. Peter’s Basilica in the 16th century, according to NPR.
In his final will and testament, Francis requested a modest burial: a simple tomb in the ground, without elaborate ornamentation, bearing only the Latin inscription Franciscus.
“Throughout my life, and during my ministry as a priest and bishop, I have always entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Francis wrote. “I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey.”
In his final hours, Francis expressed gratitude to his longtime health aide, Massimiliano Strappetti, who helped him make a surprise appearance at Easter Sunday Mass. “Do you think I can manage it?” he had asked Strappetti beforehand. After the event, which would be his final public appearance, he said simply: “Thank you for bringing me back to the Square.”
