Pope Francis was committed to eternal rest in Rome Saturday after a Vatican funeral for the “pope among the people” attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders including US President Donald Trump.
No fewer than 400,000 people packed at St Peter’s Square and lined the streets in Rome to bid the Argentine pontiff a bye. While alive, he was a champion of the poor who had led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics since 2013.
After a solemn funeral in front of hushed crowds, Francis’s plain wooden coffin — a testament to a life of humility — was driven slowly to Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore church, where he will be interred in a private ceremony.
Guatemalan Maria Vicente, 52, holding a rosary in her hands, sobbed as she witnessed the coffin being carried into Santa Maria Maggiore, the pope’s favourite Rome church.
“It made me very sad. It’s touching, that he left us like that,” she said.
Fourteen white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin into the church, as children placed baskets of flowers at the altar and a choir sang prayers.
The tomb of the Catholic Church’s first Ame is inscribed with just one word: “Franciscus”, his name in Latin.
More than 50 heads of state were present at the funeral, including Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.
