Pope Francis’ coffin has arrived at St. Mary Major Basilica, where he will be buried in a private ceremony later Saturday.
It was met by about 40 migrants, prisoners, homeless and transgender people each holding a white rose. Their inclusion was emblematic of his care for the marginalized. Francis is the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in 100 years.
In keeping with Francis’ embrace of the marginalized, the Vatican said a group of poor and needy people will meet the pope’s coffin to pay homage to him when it arrives at St. Mary Major Basilica for burial on Saturday. It has already become a point of pilgrimage.
The tomb is being prepared behind a wooden barrier within the basilica that he chose to be near an icon of the Madonna that he revered and often prayed before. The burial will take place in private, the Vatican said.
Photos released by the Vatican on Friday show the marble tombstone flat against the pavement, with the simple engraving in Latin that he requested in his last testament: “Franciscus.”
The motorcade for the pope’s coffin is continuing through Rome’s historic center, where the crowds have thickened.
People were on the steps of the Tomb of the Unknown soldier to catch a glimpse of the papal coffin. It continued past the ancient Roman Forum and Colosseum, to applause and shouts of “Il Papa!” (the pope).
Crowds applauded and yelled “Papa Francesco!” as a slow-moving motorcade escorting the pope’s coffin to his final resting place left the Vatican to make its way across Rome.
The coffin was visible from atop a modified popemobile. There was more clapping and church bells rang out as the popemobile emerged from a tunnel and crossed the Tiber River.
The popemobile was flanked by police on motorcycles.
Dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re spreads incense around the coffin of Pope Francis during his funeral in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
The coffin is being carried on the back of a popemobile modified so mourners lining streets can view it. The 6-kilometer (3.5-mile) route crosses the Tiber River and passes Italy’s monumental Tomb of the Unknown soldier, the ancient Roman Forum and the Colosseum before reaching the basilica.
The coffin will be met by about 40 migrants, prisoners, and homeless and transgender people, reflecting the pontiff’s care for people who are marginalized.
Pope Francis’ funeral Mass has ended, and cardinals have filed back into St. Peter’s Basilica.
The crowd applauded as white-gloved pallbearers lifted the pope’s coffin to bring it back inside the basilica. From there, it will be moved to the popemobile to make its way across Rome to Francis’ burial place in St. Mary Major.
A litany of saints was sung out during the funeral Mass for Pope Francis, a meditative chant that is part of the traditional rites.
It was followed by a blessing from Eastern rite Catholic churches chanted in Greek by patriarchs and priests. The pages of the New Testament placed atop the coffin fluttered in the wind as Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re blessed the coffin with incense and holy water.
Britain’s Prince William, center, arrives for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
The prince attended the funeral on behalf of his father, King Charles III.
He stood side by side with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for a moment’s silence in front of Pope Francis’s sealed coffin.
William, dressed in a dark blue suit and black tie, walked through the ornate basilica and down the steps into St. Peter’s Square, before shaking hands with a member of the clergy and being guided to his seat.
He is carrying out his most significant duty so far as heir to the throne. It is the first time the prince has represented the monarch at an international funeral.
While popes often tinker with the rules regulating the conclave that elects their successor, a revision of the papal funeral rites hadn’t been undertaken since 2000.
The changes became necessary after Francis expressed his own wishes, and after Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31, 2022. For Benedict, the Vatican had to work out the novelty of a funeral for the first retired pope in 600 years.
A few months later, Francis revealed he was working with the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to overhaul the entire book of rites to simplify them.
In explaining the reforms, Ravelli said the changes aimed “to emphasize even more that the Roman Pontiff’s funeral is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world.”
▶ Read more about Pope Francis’ reforms
Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, were led out of St. Peter’s Basilica to their seats for the service.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized Pope Francis on Saturday as a pope of the people, a paster who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” with an informal, spontaneous style.
Re called Francis “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”
He recalled the last image many people have of Francis was of him delivering what would become his final blessing on Easter Sunday, and saluting from the popemobile in the same piazza where his funeral was being celebrated.
The brief statement did not specify if that was in St. Peter’s Square alone.
Mourners were lined up along Via della Conciliazione, which leads up to the Vatican, and followed the Mass on big screens in public squares in Rome, including outside the Santa Maria Major Basilica.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
That’s according to Zelenskyy’s press office.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung confirmed the meeting and said they “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.”
“More details about the meeting will follow,” he said.
Shortly after arriving in Rome on Friday, Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high-level talks” on ending the three-year war sparked by Russia’s invasion. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Friday, and Trump said both sides were “very close to a deal.”
People wait for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Tens of thousands flocked to the funeral, which Francis choreographed himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s rites and rituals last year.
The coffin of Pope Francis is carried into St Peter’s Square for his funeral, at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
They carried the coffin, adorned with just a crucifix and Francis’ coat of arms, down the central aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica and out into the square at the start of his funeral.
Red-robbed cardinals lined the path and followed behind as the crowd in the square erupted in applause in a sign of respect.
The coffin of Pope Francis is carried into St Peter’s Square for his funeral, at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Cardinals in rich red robes formed a double line in St. Peter’s Basilica, flanking the coffin as it was carried into the square for the funeral Mass. Pallbearers lifted the coffin to applause from the square.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Trump, in a blue suit, and his wife, Melania, were escorted out of St. Peter’s Basilica to their seats for the service.
He was followed afterward by Zelenskyy, who was greeted with a burst of applause from the audience.
Acutis was supposed to have been canonized on Sunday as the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint.
The Vatican suspended the ceremony after Pope Francis died, but many people who had made plans to be in Rome for the canonization came anyway to attend the funeral. Announcers asked all flags and banners be lowered as the funeral was getting underway.
Clergy take their seats for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Francis’ coffin will be brought from St. Peter’s Basilica to the front of the altar in the square.
Mourners were instructed to refrain from waving flags or banners during the procession.
World leaders and royalty sat to the right of the main altar.
EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei have all made their way to their seating.
The Argentine and Italian leaders have a place of pride in the seating order.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday to attend the funeral of Pope Francis at Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Donald Trump arrived with his wife, Melania. He is among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral of Pope Francis.
The pope will get one more ride past the faithful on one of his beloved popemobiles.
The Vatican says for Saturday’s burial procession, his coffin will be placed on the back of a popemobile used during his 2015 trip to the Philippines.
The vehicle has been modified so the coffin will be visible to mourners along the nearly 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) route from St. Peter’s Basilica to his burial place.
Francis reveled in being driven through crowds of faithful.
The 13 spent the night in a nearby square. They were already coming to Rome for the planned canonization of the first millennial saint on Sunday, which was suspended by Francis’ death. Instead, they drove up a day early for his funeral.
“The Lord wanted it this way, so we came all the same,’’ said Sandra De Felice of Anoia in the Calabria region. “For me, this is a sign that we need to be truly humble and charitable. Otherwise, we are nothing.”
The coffin of Pope Francis was sealed in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday evening, ahead of the funeral on Saturday. A changing of the guards at Francis’ open coffin signaled the end of the viewing period of the pontiff, who was laid out in red robes, a bishop’s pointed miter and a rosary entwined in his hands.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell was presiding over the closing and sealing of the coffin in his role of camerlengo, or interim Vatican administrator. A white cloth was placed over the pope’s face, and a bag containing coins minted during his papacy were put in the coffin along with a one-page written account of his papacy.
The account of his papacy, called a rogito, summarizes his whole life’s story, from his childhood in Argentina as the son of parents with Italian heritage through his priesthood and promotions eventually to archbishop and cardinal in Buenos Aires — and then pope. It highlighted his “defense of innocents,” his encyclicals and also his illnesses.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s press office confirmed his arrival, joining the first lady Olena Zelenska, who preceded him.
Zelenskyy’s presence was put in doubt after a recent missile attack.
People queue trying to reach St. Peter’s Square ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
While dignitaries will be on hand, prisoners and migrants will usher Pope Francis Saturday into the basilica where he will be buried, reflecting his priorities as pope.
Francis is breaking with recent tradition and will be buried in the St. Mary Major Basilica, where a simple underground tomb awaits him with just his name: Franciscus
Faithful wait for the start of the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
They streamed Saturday to get a spot in standing room near the rear of the square surrounding the ancient obelisk, behind VIP seating.
Many ran toward the square as barricades opened. Some carried banners for the Jubilee Holy Year that Francis opened in December and will continue despite his death.
