Even his last will breaks with the traditions of his predecessors: The late Pope Francis has long determined that he wished to be laid to rest elsewhere than in St. Peter’s magnificent basilica, and without the customary pomp and circumstance.
In his autobiography Hope, which appeared earlier this year, the pontiff had determined that “when I pass away, I will not be buried in St. Peter’s, but in Saint Mary Major, explaining that, “the Vatican is the home of my final service, not my eternity.”
In the Saint Mary Major Basilica, the deceased pope also laid out that he wanted to his remains interred near the Mary Regina Pacis statue, “near that Queen of Peace, to whom I have always turned for help and whose embrace I have sought more than a hundred times during my pontificate.”
“I have been assured that everything is ready,” he added.
Even after spending 38 days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he received treatment for life-threatening double pneumonia as the world watched with concern, his drive home to the Vatican took a detour to stop in front St. Mary’s, so that at least from the car he could pause in prayer near his favorite Madonna icon.
Buried in his favorite church
As so, the late Pope Francis’ final journey will take him to his favorite church in Rome. The Saint Mary Major Basilica is about four kilometers (2.5 miles) from from St. Peter’s Basilica — just across the Tiber river and not far from Rome’s central train station and city center.
The church, consecrated over 16 centuries ago, is one of a dozen buildings that are extraterritorial property of the Church. Practically anyone in Rome, visitor and local alike, knows the church, which impresses all who come with its fifth-century mosaic art. Between the 12th and 16th centuries CE, seven deceased popes had designated this church as their final resting grounds.
Pope Francis is the first deceased pontiff not to be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in about 150 years. The last to break with this tradition was Pope Pius IX (1846-1878). While his body was initially laid to rest in St. Peter’s, it was transferred to the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (Saint Lawrence outside the walls) three years later.
Humble in life and in death
In his typical style, the late Pope Francis did not only designate his desired church for burial, he also distanced himself from the established Vatican funeral rites, which he described as “too elaborate.” Instead, he wished “no catafalque, no ceremony for sealing the coffin,” and no entombment in the customary three coffins made of cypress, lead, and oak. In his writing, he stated he preferred being buried “with dignity, but like any other Christian.”
As he explained, his role was “that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world.”
The piecemeal, by-the-by way in which he communicated his wishes for his funeral was also typical for Francis’ humble style. For while he was announcing something important, he did not require an official Vatican statement or public address as the head of the Church to do so.
Reshaping the papal rites
Instead, he merely addressed the issue in one of the many interviews he gave before the tenth anniversary of his papal election in March, 2023.
Speaking with the broadcasting station RSI, he cited the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who had died on New Year’s Eve in 2022 after nine years in retirement, as the reason for his decision to reshape the papal funeral rites. At the time, he recounted, the offices of the Vatican responsible for planning his burial had racked their brains over how to organize the funeral of a non-reigning pope.
Francis told RSI that this occasion prompted him to simplify the burial rituals for himself and future popes, with church experts having removed all elements that were not considered to “fit litugically.”
The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI was already less grandiose, while still honoring his former papal dignity.
Farewell in St. Peter’s Basilica
In the fall of 2024, everything Pope Francis had revealed in his previous interviews was published in an updated liturgical book titled “Ordo exsequiarum romani pontificis” (Rite of burial for Roman pontiffs).
The plan remains that the faithful will be able visit the remains of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica. But unlike his predecessors’, Francis’ wooden coffin will be closed. The former Pope Benedict XVI before him had been elevated on a catafalque and was placed in the customary triple coffin after viewing.
For the last three popes who died in office (John Paul II in 2005, John Paul I in 1978, Paul VI in 1978), as well as for the retired Pope Benedict XVI, the burial took place six days after news of their death was made public. In the case of Pope Francis, this timing is likely to remain the same.
The clergy serving at St. Mary’s, as Pope Francis determined while he was still alive, are to focus primarily on Marian devotion, confession, and liturgy. They are also to preserve Gregorian chant and Latin liturgies.
Eternal rest amid Gregorian chants. Romans are likely to appreciate that.
This article was translated from German.
