World leaders, mourners bid farewell to Pope Francis at funeral in Rome
Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful, dozens of heads of state, interfaith religious leaders, and delegations from across the globe packed the streets of St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Saturday to bid farewell to Pope Francis.
The crowds of people – an estimated 200,000 attendees – stretched all the way out of Vatican City and into the streets of Rome.
Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi represented the Islamic Republic during the funeral ceremony in the Vatican.
Hymns sung by the church’s choir filled the air as the final farewell to the so-called “People’s Pope” got underway.
Pope’s body was seen in a single wooden coffin and a modest gravestone inscribed only with his papal name in Latin, “Franciscus,” as he requested.
The funeral was led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista.
The presiding cardinal said in his funeral homily the late pontiff urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts around the world.
“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,” he said.
Battista also said Pope Francis was driven by “the conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open … a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”
The Pope’s body was transferred from Casa Santa Marta, his Vatican residence, to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, April 23, for public viewing.
The deceased pope’s coffin was then moved from St. Peter’s Basilica to St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.
More than 250,000 well-wishers and mourners filed past his coffin to pay their respects, with visitation hours extending from Wednesday through Friday, April 25.
The Argentinean pontiff died the day after Easter at the age of 88.
After the funeral service in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Francis’s coffin is to be transported along a 6km (3.7km) route to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, where the pontiff is to be laid to rest.
