Pope Francis, who has headed the Catholic church since 2013, died at 88 years old after a string of health complications, the Vatican announced today.
Throughout his twelve-year papacy, Francis implored compassion for migrants and the disenfranchised, leading a public life that shunned much of the Church’s pomp and ceremony. For that reason, it’s not surprising that his funeral will break tradition in favor of less ostentatious formalities.
Pope Francis stands outside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore at the end of the recitation of the Rosary.
In 2015, Pope Francis expressed the desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a fifth-century church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. While most popes are laid to rest in St. Peter’s Basilica—with more than 140 of the 265 deceased popes buried there, according to the National Cathedral Register—Pope Francis will be the first pope to be buried elsewhere in over a century. The last pope not buried at St. Peter’s was Pope Leo XIII, who was buried in the Vatican Grottoes in 1903, but his remains were transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in 1924.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four major papal basilicas in Rome, and one of the largest of the Marian churches (dedicated to the Virgin Mary) in the city. Located on the Esquiline Hill, it is known for its mosaics, gilded ceiling, and the icon of the Salus Populi Romani, a revered oil painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, believed to have been painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist. Pope Francis was known to have a deep personal connection to the basilica, often visiting the icon before and after his travels.
Pope Francis attends the recitation of the Rosary at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore on May 4, 2013 in Rome, Italy.
Francis’s choice to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore “reflects his veneration of an icon of the Virgin Mary that is located there, the Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the people of Rome),” the Associated Press noted. Pope Francis would pray to the icon before each of his international trips, and made over an estimated 100 visits to the basilica throughout his reign as pope, Catholic News Agency estimated in 2023.
Traditionally, popes’ bodies have been raised on platforms in the middle St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. Francis, however opted against the platform, so that mourners will be able to see his body in his coffin, which will have the lid removed. He also chose a more simple casket than his predecessors—wood lined with zinc, according to The New York Times. Prior popes have been laid to rest in three coffins, made of cypress, lead, and oak.
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