After the funeral Mass, the coffin with Francis’ body was first carried from St. Peter’s Square to the altar of the confession in the Vatican Basilica. There, the Holy Father’s body symbolically bid farewell to St. Peter, and then the coffin was transported to the burial place in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major – Santa Maria Maggiore.
Along the entire route, crowds of people gathered, bidding farewell to the Pope with applause and shouts. “Grazie! Grazie!” was heard very often from the crowd.
Around 1 p.m., the coffin with the body arrived at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The coffin was carried to the Pauline Chapel before the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani, Salvation of the Roman People, to whom the Pope had repeatedly entrusted the affairs of the Church and the world.
It is estimated that 250,000 people participated in the ceremonies in St. Peter’s Square and the adjacent Via della Conciliazione and Piazza Pia.
