Pope, celebrated as bridge-builder, buried in humbler ceremony

Pope Francis was buried in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on Saturday afternoon, after hundreds of thousands of people from global leaders to the impoverished and marginalised paid their respects to the man celebrated for his humility and humanity.

The rites for the pontiff, who died at the age of 88 earlier this week, were more modest than for past popes, as he wished, and he was laid to rest in his favourite church in Rome after a two-hour funeral service held in St Peter’s Square.

Some 150,000 people bid farewell to the pope from the roadside as his funeral procession passed through central Rome, according to estimates by the Vatican.

His coffin was brought to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the pope’s favourite church in central Rome, in a converted popemobile, following the funeral service.

The convoy first travelled through the centre of Rome, passing some of its best-known sites including the Forum and Colosseum, accompanied by several escort vehicles and police motorbikes.

Some 250,000 gathered for the funeral service, both in St Peter’s Square itself and in the surrounding streets.

In total, the authorities counted around 400,000 people, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said, according to media reports.

Among them were leaders and dignitaries from around the world who listened as Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re led the Requiem Mass in the forecourt of St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday morning.

More than 200 cardinals and some 4,000 other clergy also attended the service.

“He touched hearts,” the cardinal said. “Countless were his gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons and he was also tireless in his commitment to the poor.”

Re thanked the mourners for coming and for the global outbreak of sympathy following Francis’s death on Easter Monday.

Before carrying the coffin away from St Peter’s Square, the pallbearers briefly raised it slightly to allow Francis a final look upon Rome, in keeping with Vatican tradition.

Onlookers in the square and surrounding streets applauded as the ceremony came to end. Many had watched the service on large screens nearby.

Civil defence staff distributed bottles of water near the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where people stood shoulder to shoulder in the blazing sun.

The late pontiff’s burial was closed to the public.

Francis’ close associates, cardinals and his personal nurse are among those in attendance, along with some poor and homeless people at the pope’s request.

During the funeral service, Re also highlighted Francis’ opposition to violence and conflict.

“In the face of the many wars raging in recent years, with their inhuman atrocities, their countless deaths and their immeasurable destruction, Pope Francis raised his voice incessantly to ask for peace and to call for reason,” the cardinal said.

“After war, the world is always worse off than before. It is always a painful and dramatic defeat for everyone.”

Among the state guests at the funeral service was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as his nation continues to struggle against a full-scale Russian invasion.

Also in attendance was U.S. President Donald Trump, who listened as Re said that Francis had always urged people to build bridges “and not walls.”

The late pope shared people’s fears, suffering and hopes “with great human warmth and deep sensitivity,” the cardinal said.

Numerous international politicians attended the funeral service alongside Zelensky and Trump. Among others, President Javier Milei from Francis’ home country of Argentina, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid their respects.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also praised Francis as a bridge-builder after his funeral service. “Pope Francis built bridges,” she wrote on X. “May we walk them.”

Von der Leyen also recalled the pope’s engagement for environmental protection. “He called on us to care for each other, and for the Earth we all share,” she wrote.

She said the pope reminded people that “love must reach the margins,” praising his work for the less fortunate.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier echoed her comments on Francis’ care for those on the margins of society. The pope stood for a “church of mercy,” Steinmeier said. “He demanded it, lived it and exemplified it.”

Francis is the first pope not to be interred in St Peter’s Basilica in more than a century, opting instead for the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, which he visited frequently throughout his 12-year papacy.

A document placed in his coffin according to Catholic rites reads: “Francis left everyone an admirable testimony of humanity, holy living and universal fatherhood.”

Francis died at 88 on Easter Monday after suffering a stroke, to followed by a coma and heart failure, having in recent weeks battled acute respiratory failure, arterial hypertension and other ailments.