Papal burial rites: Why Pope Francis will be buried outside Vatican

 

Pope Francis greets the crowd from the popemobile after the Easter mass at St Peter s square in the Vatican on April 20, 2025. [AFP]

The late Pope Francis is likely going to be buried outside the Vatican.

In a 2023 interview with Mexican Televisa broadcaster N+, Pope Francis had said that he would be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, not in the grottoes underneath St Peter’s Basilica, where most popes are buried.

His desire to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore reflects his veneration of an icon of the Virgin Mary that is located there, the Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the people of Rome). 

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and first Latin American pontiff, died today, aged 88.

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, during a brief address at the Casa Santa Marta at 9:45 a.m.

“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Farrell said.

The Vatican said Francis died while undergoing treatment at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he had been admitted since Wednesday, February 14. His condition was initially reported as stable, but later deteriorated after a respiratory attack. He had received blood transfusions and remained alert until his final hours.

On Sunday morning, the Vatican said the pope had experienced a “peaceful night” but his health declined rapidly. A day earlier, the Vatican had described his condition as “critical,” noting that “the prognosis is reserved.”

His death comes a few months after he revised the funeral rites that would be used in the event he dies, simplifying the rituals to emphasise his role as a mere bishop and allowing for burial outside the Vatican in keeping with his wishes.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in November last year published details of the updated liturgical book, which Francis approved on April 29, 2024, and which replaced the previous edition that was last published in 2000.

Pope Francis turned 88 in December and, despite some health and mobility problems, appeared in fine form. In the same month of November, he presided over a spirited general audience that featured children who spontaneously rushed the stage.

While popes often tinker with the rules regulating the conclave that will elect their successor, a revision of the papal funeral rites became seemingly necessary after Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI died on December 31, 2022.

The Vatican had to work out a funeral for the first retired pope in 600 years, and a few months later, Pope Francis revealed he was working with the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Ravelli, to overhaul the papal funeral rites to simplify them.

In that 2023 interview with Mexican Televisa broadcaster N+, Francis also revealed that he had decided he would be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, not in the grottoes underneath St Peter’s Basilica where most popes are buried.

Ravelli said the new reform simplifies the funeral rites, including eliminating the requirement that the pope be placed on an elevated bier in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. Rather, he will be on view in a simple coffin, and the burial no longer requires the traditional three coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.

The simplification, Ravelli was quoted as saying, is meant “to emphasize even more that the Roman Pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world.”

Since his 2013 election, Francis eschewed the pomp often associated with the papacy to emphasise his role as the bishop of Rome and a servant of the “church of the poor.” The Argentine Jesuit lived in the Vatican hotel, not the Apostolic Palace, and travelled in small Fords or Fiats, not fancy SUVs.

After every trip, Francis went to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus who in turn holds a jewelled golden book.

“It’s my great devotion,” Francis told N+ in revealing his future burial plans. “The place is already prepared.”

This is an updated version of an article published in November 2024.