Vatican Releases Pictures Of Pope Francis’ Grave Decked With ONE Rose
The images of Pope Francis’ tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome have been revealed.
A single, white rose was depicted lying on the stone tomb that bears his name during his pontificate, beneath a crucifix lit by a single lighting.
The late pope was laid to rest at the church in a private ceremony after his public funeral in the Vatican on Saturday.
The church is one of four great basilicas in the Italian city, and he would frequently visit it during his tenure as cardinal and pontiff.
Mourners lined up outside the church early on Sunday morning to be among the first to pay their respects to Pope Francis, who died aged 88 on Monday.
Francis had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, and Santa Maria Maggiore was the first church dedicated to her when it was established in the fourth century.
The basilica is located near the Colosseum, a stone’s throw from the city’s central Termini station – well beyond the boundaries of the Vatican, where popes are typically entombed.
But it was one that the South American pontiff had a long-standing fondness for.
A FLOWER FOR POPE FRANCIS
— PhilSTAR L!fe (@philstarlife) April 27, 2025
A white rose is placed on Pope Francis' tomb in Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore), in Rome, Italy.
His body has been laid to rest on April 26, 2025. He is the first pontiff in more than a century not to be entombed in St.… pic.twitter.com/jupx3n2zjo
The senior priest earlier informed an Italian newspaper that Pope Francis had expressed a desire to be buried there in 2022, claiming inspiration from the Virgin Mary.
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Francis’ funeral was attended by heads of state, heads of government and monarchs from around the world – as well as hundreds of thousands of Catholics who lined the streets leading to the Vatican to pay their respects.
Hymns played out on giant speakers, occasionally drowned out by the sound of helicopters flying overhead, before 91-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re gave a homily on the pope’s legacy.
The cardinal emphasised that Pope Francis had repeatedly urged the world to “build bridges, not walls”.
The funeral was also the venue for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, which the latter said afterwards had the “potential to become historic”.
Vatican Releases Pictures Of Pope Francis’ Grave Decked With ONE Rose
