Pope Francis’s Funeral

More than 250,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to pay their respects to Pope Francis (see photos).

The 88-year-old Argentine pontiff was presented in a humble wooden coffin for a funeral ceremony full of tradition (simplified slightly, per his request). Catholics from all walks of life mourned alongside cardinals and world leaders, including President Trump, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, and Britain's Prince William. 

In his homily, the Dean of the College of Cardinals remembered Pope Francis as “a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”

After the service, the popemobile carried Pope Francis on a four-mile procession through Rome’s mourner-packed streets. He was laid to rest at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, becoming the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century. 

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
Freed from the fear of death by Christ’s own death and resurrection, believers in Jesus mourn differently than the rest of the world. Pray that mourners around the world would experience God’s comfort and the hope of Jesus.

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (CSB) (read full passage)