New details have emerged of the burial rights of Pope Francis the 266th pontiff, whose death at age 88 was announced by the Vatican on Easter Monday.
Francis will be laid to rest with a heartfelt note describing him as a “simple and much-loved shepherd.”
Pope Francis is currently being buried in a funeral attended by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Prince William, and Sir Keir Starmer. Up to 500,000 mourners are expected to gather for the open-air service, with many camping out overnight to pay their final respects.
Francis had been lying in state in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc at St. Peter’s Basilica since Wednesday. Before today’s funeral, the coffin was sealed.
Inside the coffin, a touching obituary recalls his journey: it notes that Francis, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was “a simple and much-loved shepherd” who traveled the city by underground and bus, cooked his own meals, and lived among the people he served. The note adds that he “will remain in the heart of the Church and of humanity,” and closes with a tribute: “Francis has left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, a life of a saint, and universal fatherhood.”
Unlike previous popes, whose remains were placed in three coffins, Pope Francis will rest in a single coffin. The zinc inner lid bears his name, a cross, his papal coat of arms, and the dates of his papacy, 2013–2025.
This morning, St. Peter’s Square was filled with world leaders, dignitaries, and tens of thousands of mourners, all gathered to bid farewell to one of the most transformative Catholic leaders of modern times.
From the early hours, pilgrims flooded Via della Conciliazione—the grand boulevard leading to the Vatican—singing hymns, praying, and sharing memories of Francis’s compassionate leadership.
As the service began, archbishops and bishops assembled in the Constantine Wing of St. Peter’s Basilica, wearing chasubles, albs, belts, and simple white mitres. Priests and deacons gathered in St. Peter’s Square in similar attire, with the addition of red stoles. Patriarchs and cardinals met in Saint Sebastian’s Chapel, donning white Damascene mitres.
The funeral procession featured clergy walking alongside Francis’s coffin, with the late Pope dressed in a red damask chasuble and a golden papal mitre.
At 10 a.m. local time (9 a.m. BST), the funeral began, with Pope Francis’s coffin laid before St. Peter’s Basilica, where Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Deacon of the College of Cardinals, presided over the solemn ceremony.
