1 of 5 | Youssef Absi, Patriarch of Antioch and All the Orient, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem and head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church blesses the coffin during the funeral ceremony of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Saturday. Photo by Riccardo AntimianiEPA-EFE
April 25 (UPI) — Before scores of world leaders and Roman Catholic officials on Saturday, Pope Francis was laid to rest in a funeral mass live-streamed to the world less than a week after the pontiff died of a stroke and heart failure at 88.
This past week, tens of thousands of people paid their respects to Francis as “the people’s pope” lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.
After his coffin was nailed shut Friday night, at 10 a.m. local time Saturday his funeral mass began at St. Peter’s before he was taken taken to Rome and entombed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
He was the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in more than a century. Francis chose that site because he prayed there often. It also was a site he frequented often during the worst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Dignitaries attending Saturday’s funeral included U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince William, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Nine days of official mourning began immediately at the conclusion of the funeral mass. Then, the College of Cardinals, made up of 252 representatives from countries around the world, will gather to launch the secret process to elect a new pope.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for frequent updates.