Rome (Italy). On 26 April 2025 in Rome, took place in the crowded and emotional St Peter’s Square, the Celebration of the Holy Funeral Mass of Pope Francis, who reached Heaven on 21 April 2025.
There were more than 250,000 of the faithful from all over the world, according to estimates, who from dawn began to fill the Square to give the last greeting to their Pastor, in an atmosphere of great emotion and gratitude.
Among them, numerous Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, including the General Councilor for Communication, Sister Ausilia De Siena, and Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, cousin of Pope Francis, who came from Thailand where she has been a missionary for 60 years, to live this intense last moment. “My emotion is great. I still can’t believe it … Dearest Jorge… I keep calling him that, as I used to call him in the letters we wrote. He did not like the high-sounding titles. He said to the Cardinals, ‘do not forget to be servants’. The Celebration was well prepared and emotional; people prayed from their heart, even the Rosary before the Mass.”
The Eucharistic Celebration was presided by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and concelebrated by about 5,000 Cardinals, Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, Bishops, and priests. Heads of State, Heads of Government, and Official Delegations from many Countries were present on the square to express their affection and esteem for an extraordinary “Head of State”, who was able to find the path of dialogue and make an entry into everyone’s heart.
In the center of the scene, placed in front of the altar – carried on the backs of the bearers, from the altar of Confession to the square, along the central nave of Saint Peter – was the very simple walnut coffin, upon which was positioned the open Gospel.
In the homily, interrupted many times by applause, Cardinal Re first recalled the last greeting of Pope Francis from this Square, which took place less than a week before, on the Solemnity of Easter. “Despite serious health problems, he wanted to impart the blessing from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica. He then went down into this square in the Popemobile in order to greet everyone in the huge crowd gathered for the Easter Mass.”
He then outlined the main moments of his pontificate, from the election on 13 March 2013 as successor to Pope Benedict XVI, to the choice of the name Francis, a style inspired by the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, with “a strong focus on people in difficulty, spending himself without measure, especially for the least of the earth, the marginalized. He was a Pope among the people with his heart open towards everyone. He was also a Pope attentive to the new that was emerging in society and to what the Holy Spirit aroused in the Church.”
He also stressed his great spontaneity and informal way of addressing everyone, even people far from the Church, his human warmth, his sensitivity to today’s dramas, sharing “the anxieties, sufferings, and hopes of our time of globalization,” and his ability “to reach people’s hearts directly and immediately.”
“His charism of welcoming and listening, combined with a way of behaving that is typical of today’s sensitivities touched hearts, seeking to awaken moral and spiritual energies.”
His special attention towards migrants, refugees, displaced persons, the poor, and those on the peripheries in general emerged especially on the trips: Lampedusa, Lesbo, Mexico, Iraq… until reaching, with the Apostolic Visit of 2024, the four Nations of Asia-Oceania, “the most peripheral peripheries of the world.”
“Mercy and joy of the Gospel are two key words of Pope Francis,” together with the theme of fraternity at the center of the Encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’, with which he “wanted to revive a worldwide aspiration to fraternity,” because we are “all children of the same Father who is in heaven” and “we all belong to the same human family.”
Peace was also his incessant plea, with the request for prayers to all the people of God for the peoples martyred by wars and the invitation to reason and negotiations. “War always leaves the world worse than it was before; it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone.” “Building bridges and not walls” is one of the most repeated exhortations in his discourses.
Memorable is the sentence with which he concluded every speech, as well as every Sunday Angelus. “Do not forget to pray for me.” And with the same request for prayers and blessings, Cardinal Re concluded his homily, “Dear Pope Francis, now we ask You to pray for us and that from heaven, You bless the Church, bless Rome, bless the whole world.”
After the Eucharistic Celebration, the Last Commendatio (Commendation) and the Valedictio (Farewell) took place. The Cardinal Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Baldassare Reina, led the supplication of the Church of Rome. Then the Patriarchs, the Major Archbishops, and the Metropolitans of the Catholic Eastern Metropolitan Churches “sui iuris”, went before the coffin for the supplication of the Oriental Churches. At the end, the Cardinal Dean sprinkled with holy water the body of the deceased Pontiff and incensed it. “… To the Church, deprived of her Pastor, she gives the comfort of faith and the strength of hope.”
Very emotional was the farewell at the Square to the coffin, raised by the bearers that inclined it towards the crowd for the last greeting amid incessant applause, before the translation to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, next to the “Salus Popoli Romani” that he loved so much, for burial and interment. On his last trip from the Vatican to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in a popemobile adapted to the need, Pope Francis was accompanied by the applause of about 150,000 people present along the way.
The impressions of some Sisters present at the funeral in the Piazza:
“I was very impressed by the love and respect of so many people who came to pay homage to Pope Francis. His works and kindness towards the Church and the world are innumerable and impossible to describe completely. He was a man who always tried to build peace and human relationships, with an unconditional love for all. I want to thank him for the life he dedicated to the Church as a Pastor and for his continuous sacrifice for change and peace, just like a father who wants his children to live together in serenity, security, and authentic love,” says Sister Chanpen, from Thailand.
“Tuning in with smiles and gazes of melancholy, and together with gratitude and hope, since the early morning hours on the bus, it was a unique experience. The thoughtful steps of all had only one destination: Saint Peter’s Square. I was impressed by the silence and peace despite the great attendance, the applause during the homily. I was struck by the thirst we all have for peace, justice, inclusion, and mercy. I was touched by the moment when all the Churches greeted him with their Rite, a concrete manifestation of the bridges that Pope Francis has always wanted to build. I was moved by the ‘eternal’ applause as they were taking the coffin toward the Basilica. I felt that we had been orphaned… The hugs and tears of the young people confirmed it. We were really losing a person very close to EVERYONE, because he was always with and for everyone,” shares Sister Jasmin, Venezuelan
“Two images have been superimposed in me: the same silence that reigned on 27 March 2020 – with the solitary progress of Pope Francis in the deserted square in full pandemic – also reigned during the funeral. Despite the huge number of people, there was a very long silence, immediately after the conclusion of the Salve Regina, before the great applause broke out when the coffin of Pope Francis moved from the square.” And again: “During the funeral I thought: if he could have spoken, he would have made one of his original jokes; he would have surely greeted familiarly, and asked for prayers as he always did.” These are the impressions of Sister Ausilia De Siena, interviewed on the program of RAI1, “One morning in the family” of 27 April.
Good journey Pope Francis… Do not forget to pray for us!
