Under the soft glow of Rome’s spring skies, a river of humanity flooded St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to bid farewell to Pope Francis, the 88-year-old pontiff whose legacy of humility, courage, and compassion reshaped the papacy for a new era.
More than 250,000 mourners from every corner of the world gathered in a solemn tribute, joined by hundreds of religious leaders and heads of state, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Britain’s Prince William. Differences were set aside as global leaders stood shoulder to shoulder in shared mourning.
In a powerful break from tradition, Pope Francis was laid to rest not within the Vatican walls, but at the Basilica of St. Mary Major — a church deeply tied to his personal ministry, making him the first pope in over a century to rest outside the traditional papal crypts. His final resting place reflected the simplicity that defined his life: a plain wooden coffin lined with zinc, devoid of ornate trappings.
Security measures around Vatican City were unprecedented. Italian authorities deployed more than 2,500 police officers and 1,500 soldiers, closing the airspace above the city as a protective measure.The Requiem Mass was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, whose voice cracked with emotion as he honored Francis’s tireless advocacy for peace, dignity, and the forgotten. Behind him, a sea of red-robed Cardinals, bishops, priests, and ordinary faithful stretched beyond the great colonnades of St. Peter’s Square.”Francis was a sinner whom the Lord looked upon,” Cardinal Re echoed in his homily, recalling the Pope’s own humble description of his journey.
Applause broke out as Francis’s simple casket, adorned only with a cross, emerged from St. Peter’s Basilica, carried by 14 white-gloved pallbearers. The journey did not end there.
In a profoundly moving procession, the late Pope’s body was carried through Rome’s ancient streets, a 4-kilometer journey watched by an estimated 150,000 more mourners lining the route. Many waved flowers, wept openly, and whispered tearful goodbyes: “Long live the Pope!”At the Basilica of St. Mary Major — where Francis often prayed for migrants and victims of war — his life came full circle. His radical humility, visible in life, was again visible in death.
As the golden Roman light faded, so too ended an extraordinary chapter in the history of the Catholic Church. Yet Pope Francis’s legacy endures — not in marble, monuments, or grand tombs, but in the millions of lives he touched across the world.
