Pope Francis breaks with tradition in picking Santa Maria Maggiore for burial
Pope Francis will become the first pope not to be buried under St Peter’s for almost 150 years. There’s a very personal reason why.
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Pope Francis discovered the candelabra store room at Santa Maria Maggiore some time ago.
His find became an unusual starting point for the final farewell he planned long before his death this week.
Francis often attended the church in Rome’s Esquiline area.
He came before and after overseas trips, to pray to an icon of the Virgin Mary, to which he contributed a vase of golden roses a couple of years ago.
He came here on the day after he was elected pope in March, 2013.
He prayed here for an end to Covid in 2020, and to an end to the Ukraine War in 2022.
In the church, a statue, Mary, Queen of Peace was commissioned by Pope Benedict XV in 1918 to ask God to end World War 1.
Past the statue, in a small recess, a door leads to a storeroom for candelabras.
“I saw it and thought, ‘this is the place,’, Pope Francis said in a 2024 book, El Sucesor. “And that’s where the burial site was prepared. I’ve been told it’s ready.”
Santa Maria Maggiore dates to the fifth century; its gold leaf ceiling said to be made from treasures brought back by explorer Christopher Columbus.
Long ago a burial site for the poor, the neighbourhood of Esquiline hosts Stazione Termini, the city’s big train station, and is favoured by students, movie directors and actors.
Simplicity, a hallmark of a pope who preferred a Ford Focus to a limousine, is intended to feature in his funeral.
Citing his “very practical approach”, he wanted to be buried as a pastor, not a head of state.
Seven popes are buried at the basilica. Francis is the first pope not to be buried under St Peter’s for almost 150 years.
“I will go in the room where they now keep the candelabra, close to the Regina della Pace from whom I have always sought help, and whose embrace I have felt more than a hundred times during the course of my papacy,” he wrote in his autobiography, Hope.
Before his private burial, which is thought to include final prayers and the sprinkling of holy water, Francis’s funeral will be held outdoors at St Peter’s Square, which is about four kilometres west of his final resting place.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, will preside over the mass, joined by Catholic clergy from around the world.
The funeral is expected to go longer than two hours before Pope Francis makes his final journey across Rome.
Folklore says that in August, AD352, a wealthy couple beheld a vision of the Virgin Mary. They were told a miracle would guide them on where to build a new church.
When it snowed – in summer – on an Esquiline hill, they took this as the sign, in a foundation story for Santa Maria Maggiore which is still celebrated annually in Rome.
Francis, as with Clement IX, the last pope to be buried at the basilica, in 1669, wants a simple inscription on his grave. Franciscus.
It is yet to be seen whether Francis’ successor will – as did Clement’s successor – ignore the request for simplicity and commission a large statue of him inside the church.
10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT POPE FRANCIS
Pope Francis made a huge impression, and his papacy was defined by themes such as poverty, mercy and joy.
But what characterised the 88-year-old pontiff as a person?
Here are 10 interesting things you may not have known about the man who has led the Catholic Church since 2013.
THE DAILY HUMOUR PRAYER
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni described Francis’s sense of humour as “proverbial” after a recent visit she paid him in hospital.
It’s consistent with the prayer the Pope reads every day from St Thomas More: “Lord, give me a sense of humour. Grant me the grace to understand a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy, and be able to share it with others.”
HE WAS A BOUNCER
There was a tough streak to the man who preached peace.
Pope Francis used to keep troublemakers out as he guarded the entrance of a bar in Buenos Aires while he was a student.
HE LOVED THE TANGO
The Pope had some strong, flexible hips as a younger man, after many years dancing the tango.
It was one of his favourite hobbies when he was younger.
“I love tango and I used to dance when I was young,” the Pope once said.
In 2014, thousands of Catholics gathered in St Peter’s Square to honour the Pope’s December 17 birthday with his homeland’s famous dance.
HE HAD A GIRLFRIEND
One of the many people who used to dance with the Pope was his girlfriend.
He was romantically linked to an unnamed woman in his younger years before he discovered his religious vocation. The relationship did not progress.
HE HAD A PENCHANT FOR POETRY AND OPERA
The Pope cherished many poets and writers; Dante and Dostoevski were favourites.
He once said the words of writers helped him understand himself, the world, and the human heart.
Pope Francis was also an opera lover, taking a liking to Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor.
He also liked the work of Richard Wagner, who often challenged the views of Christianity.
HE DIDN’T WATCH TV
The Pope vowed never to watch television again thanks to a “sordid scene” that appeared while he was watching TV in Buenos Aires in 1990.
He said it deeply offended him and was a sign from God that he should not watch television.
HE LOVED FOOTBALL
The Pontiff supported the Argentinian team San Lorenzo as a boy, avidly following their results via newspaper reports.
He also had a club named after him; Club Deportivo Papa Francisco based in San Francisco Solano in Buenos Aires province.
HE RELEASED AN ALBUM
Pope Francis released the progressive rock album “Wake Up!” in November 2015. It featured various speeches he made in 2013 and 2014, accompanied by music tracks of prayers and hymns.
HE STUDIED CHEMISTRY
Pope Francis “graduated as a chemical technician” before entering the priesthood.
He also obtained a degree in philosophy and theology from the Colegio de San José in San Miguel, and taught literature and psychology.
A PORTION OF HIS LUNG WAS REMOVED
At the age of 21, Pope Francis suffered from life-threatening pneumonia and developed three cysts. Part of his lung was excised to help combat the illness, prompting doctors to warn him avoid strenuous exercise for the rest of his life.
Originally published as Pope Francis breaks with tradition in picking Santa Maria Maggiore for burial
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