Pope Francis has been laid to rest in Rome following solemn, hours-long funeral rites at St Peter’s Sq. within the Vatican, bringing to an in depth his generally turbulent 12-year management of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
The Argentinian pontiff, who died earlier this week from a stroke and cardiac arrest on the age of 88, was buried on Saturday on the Basilica of St Mary Main within the Italian capital.
As sunny skies greeted crowds of well-wishers in Rome, tens of 1000’s packed the square to attend the ceremony, officiated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, with many queueing from the early hours outdoors the sq..
Safety across the Vatican was unprecedented, with Italian authorities deploying greater than 2,500 cops and 1,500 troopers, closing the airspace above Vatican Metropolis, and stationing a torpedo ship off the coast, Italian media reported.
Applause and cheers rang out as Francis’s picket coffin, inlaid with a big cross, was carried by 14 white-gloved pallbearers by way of the principle doorways of St Peter’s Basilica to the out of doors funeral service.
Among the many mourners have been royals and international leaders, together with United States President Donald Trump, who had incessantly clashed with Francis over their sharply contrasting views on immigration.
French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres, European Union leaders, the UK’s Prince William, and members of the Spanish royal household have been additionally in attendance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had initially stated he couldn’t attend because of new Russian assaults, was current in any case. In keeping with experiences, he held a gathering with Trump earlier than the ceremony – their first face-to-face encounter since a heated Oval Workplace conflict in February.
Al Jazeera understands {that a} second assembly between Trump and Zelenskyy is predicted after the service.
Former US President Joe Biden additionally attended, alongside different world leaders together with Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Lebanon’s Normal Joseph Aoun.
‘A pope among the many individuals’
As world leaders watched from the sidelines, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re delivered a shifting funeral homily, describing Francis as a relentless advocate for peace and human dignity.
“Confronted with the raging wars of latest years, with their inhuman horrors and numerous deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for cause and sincere negotiation to seek out doable options,” Battista Re stated.
He additionally praised Francis’s landmark papal letter on local weather change and highlighted his many visits to locations like Lampedusa and Lesbos, the place the pope met migrants and refugees in detention camps.
“His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are numerous,” Battista Re advised the group.
He eulogised Francis as “a pope among the many individuals, with an open coronary heart in the direction of everybody”, recognized for his casual, spontaneous fashion and his capacity to achieve “the least amongst us”.
![Over three days this week, more than 250,000 people stood for hours in line to pay their final respects while Francis’ body lay in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica [Susana Vera/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-04-26T054922Z_1976698341_RC2H5EAMMTRW_RTRMADP_3_POPE-FRANCIS-FUNERAL-1-1745646915.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514&quality=80)
A humble ultimate resting place
Reporting from the Vatican, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull referred to as it an “completely stunning service” that was “very nicely acquired by the large crowd”, noting how spontaneous applause broke out in the course of the historic second.
Following the service, Francis’s coffin made a 4km (2.5-mile) journey by way of the centre of Rome. In keeping with the Vatican, 150,00 lined up the route of the motorcade to observe the pope’s motorcade.
His burial at St Mary Main Basilica – reasonably than St Peter’s – was a deeply private resolution made by Francis himself in his final will, Hull reported.
“It has a deep private significance to Pope Francis and the Jesuit religion, which he was a part of,” Hull stated.
Earlier this week, greater than 250,000 individuals stood in line – some for hours – to pay their ultimate respects whereas Francis’s physique lay in state at St Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican saved its doorways open in a single day to accommodate the crowds.
His ultimate resting place, a plain tomb in a historic Roman church that has not held papal stays in centuries, displays the humility and independence that outlined Francis’s papacy.
After the funeral, a bunch of 40 individuals – together with migrants, homeless people, prisoners, and transgender individuals – greeted the late pope’s coffin with white roses on the steps of St Mary Major Basilica.
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting dwell from the Vatican, mirrored on the shifting nature of Francis’s ultimate journey: “In some ways, it’s symbolic that he’s forsaking the heads of state, royalty, world leaders, and he’s coming right here to a typical neighbourhood within the coronary heart of Rome – that is the place he desires to be, near the individuals, among the many individuals.”
