Pope Francis’ decision to be buried in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major is “surprising… but not novel,” according to historian Donald Prudlo, who in this interview reflects on the significance of papal burial places.

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After the funeral Mass, Pope Francis’ mortal remains were carried through Rome to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he was laid to rest near the icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani.

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In his homily at the Requiem Mass for Pope Francis, the Dean of the College of Cardinals recalls the highlights of his intense and prophetic 12 years of pontificate marked by his closeness to the people, especially the least and the last amongst us, and his deep love for the Church open to everyone.

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For the Octave of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, Jenny Kraska reflects on the peace offered by the Risen Lord as the Church marks the passing of Pope Francis.

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Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster offers Vatican News a personal reflection on the defining character of the late pontiff’s ministry: joy and hope deeply rooted in the relation with God.

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The Deed for the Pious Passing of His Holiness Pope Francis has been placed in his coffin, which was sealed in a solemn rite ahead of his Requiem Mass.

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CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:36 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis asked us “to be a Church which announces the good news of Christ,” Cardinal Christophe Pierre said on Friday, one of the many fruits of the Holy Spirit’s having selected the late Argentine prelate to be the supreme pontiff.

Pierre, who has served as apostolic nuncio in various countries over several decades and who has served as nuncio to the United States under Francis, told EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado that as he sees it, Francis’ election in 2013 was the fruit of a process that arose out of the 2007 Aparecida conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops in Brazil. 

Then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio headed up the committee that produced the conference’s final document. The bishops at that conference were “inspired [and] helped” by the future pope, Pierre said. 

“Then, six years later, Pope Francis was elected pope,” Pierre said, describing the selection as providential. “The Holy Spirit chose him so that he could be an instrument of Christ in today’s world,” the cardinal said. 

He further pointed to Francis’ regular contention — articulated first in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium — that “realities are more important than ideas.”

“Today in the world, we are all tempted to transform reality into ideas,” Pierre told Alvarado. “And when you transform reality, it’s in abstractions. And ideas become ideology, and they become instruments of power, of war, of dispute between ourselves. And it is impossible to achieve peace as Christ asks us to do.”

“Even in the Church, at times we are tempted to defend our ideas,” the cardinal said. “But what Christ wants us to be is simply like him, and like Pope Francis has been.”

Asked about what the Catholic Church needs in the wake of Francis’ death, Pierre said it “needs first and foremost to be close to the people, to be attentive to the real needs of the people, especially the poor.”

He further urged Catholics to “remember that Jesus met you and changed your life.” He encouraged the faithful to “be a witness of Jesus for the world today.”

“I met Jesus, and this has transformed my life,” the prelate said. “And because Jesus transformed my life, I cannot do anything else but to announce his presence through my witness of life, but also through the way I live [and the way] I see the world.”

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:16 pm (CNA).

The late Pope Francis was “a man of the heart” who preached tenderness and mercy to the global Church, New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on Friday. 

Dolan spoke to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Friday. The cardinal is one of 10 from the United States who will vote in the upcoming conclave to elect the next pope. 

Reflecting on the three most recent popes — St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis — the cardinal archbishop said John Paul II “reinvigorated the soul of the world” that was weary from “lies” and “atrocities.” Benedict XVI, meanwhile, was known for uniting “the mind, faith, and reason.”

“And Pope Francis, I thought, spoke very much about the heart,” Dolan said. 

“I remember his first time at the window after his election, I guess we were all thinking there would be some theologically erudite talk,” Dolan said. “And [instead] he spoke about tenderness, tenderness.” 

“We have a God who’s tender with us, and we have a God who wants us to be tender with one another,” Dolan continued.

The prelate said it was “magnificent” that Francis’ final encyclical, Dilexit Nos, was a call for Catholics worldwide to rediscover the love and compassion found in the heart of Jesus Christ. 

“Remember when he was in the hospital for so long,” Dolan said of Francis’ hospitalization earlier this year prior to his death. “When we got the medical bulletins [the] doctors would say, ‘Ah, but his heart is strong.’ And I said, ‘You bet it is.’ He was a man of the heart.”

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 18:56 pm (CNA).

At 9:45 p.m. Rome time, 12 hours before Pope Francis’ funeral is set to take place, the first of thousands of pilgrims were already lining up along the streets to catch a glimpse of the late pontiff as his body passes by on the way to the Basilica of St. Mary Major — his final burial place. 

Pope Francis’ funeral will take place on April 26 at 10 a.m. Rome time. Following the funeral, his coffin will be taken in a procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where it will be interred. The procession route is set to take approximately half an hour and will pass several historic, Roman landmarks including the Colosseum. 

Sitting on the sidewalk near St. Peter’s Basilica, Ismael is one pilgrim who intends to “camp out” during the night to be present at this historic moment. Ismael, who preferred not to give his last name, came back to the Catholic Church five years ago — thanks to Pope Francis — after leaving for 20 years.

He credited his return to the Church to the pope’s “message of openness and his welcoming of all people,” he told CNA.

“Since I’m so grateful for my return home, that is why I came to say goodbye,” Ismael, who traveled from Barcelona, Spain, said while showing his backpack that had a picture of the pope and the words: “In the Church we all fit, everyone, everyone” and also: “I came back to the Church thanks to you.”

Among the first in line were also pilgrims from Portugal and El Salvador who live in Milan, Italy. Nadia Trujillo wanted to accompany her friend Ana Asensio on a pilgrimage to Rome to pass through the Holy Door of the jubilee and was surprised by the death of the pope.

“We did not expect the death of the pope to happen, and even less so at the moment when Jesus overcomes death. It gives a life lesson because we are all prone to die, but we must keep in mind who died first and gave us the opportunity to be reborn, which is Jesus Christ,” she said.

Trujillo also thanked the Catholic Church for “the spiritual guidance” she has received from its teachings, because without them, she said, “I would not have grown with guidelines that have stopped me from being more of a sinner than I already am — because we’re all sinners.”

Asensio, who made her first Communion last year, said she has gratitude in her heart for the Holy Father.

“I came because I felt it was a personal commitment because I left the Church, but with what the pope has done, I really came back to the Church and last year I made my first Communion and confirmation,” she shared.

A group of African nuns, Disciples of the Sacred Heart, were also among the first in line Friday night.

Despite the tiredness of the pilgrims, the atmosphere around the basilica is lively and pious, with many faithful continuing to arrive ready to stay up all night to attend the pope’s funeral.

Some pray, others sing songs and share words of hope as they wait for the ceremony to begin in the morning. For them, participating in this historic moment is a gesture of love, a way to pay their last respects to the spiritual father who inspired so many.

A group of religious leaders, academics and economists pay tribute to Pope Francis, highlighting his call for an economy that prioritises human dignity and ecological responsibility. They propose debt conversion initiatives as a practical way to balance global inequalities and advance his vision of fraternity and sustainable development.

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