Pope Francis laid to rest after tens of thousands attend Vatican funeral | Religion News

Pope Francis has been laid to rest in Rome following solemn, hours-long funeral rites at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, bringing to a close his sometimes turbulent 12-year leadership of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

The Argentinian pontiff, who died earlier this week from a stroke and cardiac arrest at the age of 88, was buried on Saturday at the Basilica of St Mary Major in the Italian capital.

As sunny skies greeted crowds of well-wishers in Rome, tens of thousands packed the square to attend the ceremony, officiated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, with many queueing from the early hours outside the square.

Security around the Vatican was unprecedented, with Italian authorities deploying more than 2,500 police officers and 1,500 soldiers, closing the airspace above Vatican City, and stationing a torpedo ship off the coast, Italian media reported.

Applause and cheers rang out as Francis’s wooden coffin, inlaid with a large cross, was carried by 14 white-gloved pallbearers through the main doors of St Peter’s Basilica to the outdoor funeral service.

Among the mourners were royals and global leaders, including United States President Donald Trump, who had frequently clashed with Francis over their sharply contrasting views on immigration.

French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Union leaders, the United Kingdom’s Prince William, and members of the Spanish royal family were also in attendance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had initially said he could not attend due to new Russian attacks, was present after all. According to reports, he held a meeting with Trump before the ceremony – their first face-to-face encounter since a heated Oval Office clash in February.

Al Jazeera understands that a second meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy is expected after the service.

Former US President Joe Biden also attended, alongside other world leaders including Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Lebanon’s General Joseph Aoun.

‘A pope among the people’

As world leaders watched from the sidelines, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re delivered a moving funeral homily, describing Francis as a relentless advocate for peace and human dignity.

“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” Battista Re said.

He also praised Francis’s landmark papal letter on climate change and highlighted his many visits to places like Lampedusa and Lesbos, where the pope met migrants and refugees in detention camps.

“His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced people are countless,” Battista Re told the crowd.

He eulogised Francis as “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone”, known for his informal, spontaneous style and his ability to reach “the least among us”.

A humble final resting place

Reporting from the Vatican, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull called it an “utterly beautiful service” that was “very well received by the enormous crowd”, noting how spontaneous applause broke out during the historic moment.

Following the service, Francis’s coffin made a 4km (2.5-mile) journey through the centre of Rome, with as many as 300,000 people lining the motorcade route. His burial at St Mary Major Basilica – rather than St Peter’s – was a deeply personal decision made by Francis himself in his last will, Hull reported.

“It has a deep personal significance to Pope Francis and the Jesuit faith, which he was part of,” Hull said.

Earlier this week, more than 250,000 people stood in line – some for hours – to pay their final respects while Francis’s body lay in state at St Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican kept its doors open overnight to accommodate the crowds.

His final resting place, a plain tomb in a historic Roman church that has not held papal remains in centuries, reflects the humility and independence that defined Francis’s papacy.

After the funeral, a group of 40 people – including migrants, homeless individuals, prisoners, and transgender people – greeted the late pope’s coffin with white roses on the steps of St Mary Major Basilica.

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting live from the Vatican, reflected on the moving nature of Francis’s final journey: “In many ways, it’s symbolic that he is leaving behind the heads of state, royalty, world leaders, and he’s coming here to a common neighbourhood in the heart of Rome – this is where he wants to be, close to the people, among the people.”