The modest tomb draws huge queues on the first day of public viewing a day after tens of thousands attended his funeral.
Thousands of mourners have gathered in Rome to pay their respects at the tomb of Pope Francis, a day after his funeral drew world leaders and hundreds of thousands of the faithful.
On Sunday, queues were seen at the tomb, which opened to the public on the second of nine days of official mourning, with a conclave to select his successor expected between May 5 and May 10.
Outside St Mary Major Basilica, ushers urged visitors to keep moving to allow the steady stream of people a chance to bid farewell.
The Argentinian pontiff, who died on April 21 aged 88, was laid to rest in a modest white marble tomb near an icon of the Madonna that he deeply revered.
“For me, Pope Francis was an inspiration, a guide,” said Elias Caravalhal, a Rome resident who missed the lying-in-state at St Peter’s Basilica but came to offer thanks at the tomb, told The Associated Press news agency.
Polish pilgrim Maria Brzezinska, reflecting on the simplicity of the site, said: “It’s exactly the way of the Pope. He was simple, and so is his place now.”
![Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell (L), Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, presiding over the entombment of the late Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, Italy. [File: Vatican media handout/EPA-EFE]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/12996864-1745756876.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Breaking with a century-old tradition, Francis chose to be buried outside the Vatican, selecting the multicultural heart of Rome as his final resting place.
Earlier on Sunday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and a likely contender to become the next pope, led a special mass at St Peter’s Square.
Speaking before a crowd estimated at 200,000, many of them young pilgrims who had initially gathered for the planned canonisation of Carlo Acutis, Parolin paid tribute to Francis.
“The shepherd whom the Lord gave to his people, Pope Francis, has ended his earthly life and has left us,” he said. “The grief at his departure, the sense of sadness that assails us … We are experiencing all of this.”
Among those mourning was Susmidah Murphy from Kerala, India. “It’s unbelievable that he’s no longer with us,” she said. “It’s sad. We don’t get popes like this very often.”
Cardinals who have arrived in Rome will meet throughout the week to chart the future course of the 1.4-billion-strong Roman Catholic Church.