Vatican City: Presidents, royalty and simple mourners bade farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday at a solemn funeral ceremony, where a cardinal appealed for the pontiff’s legacy of caring for migrants, the downtrodden and the environment to be kept alive. US President Donald Trump, who had clashed with the pope on those issues, sat with the rows of foreign dignitaries on one side of Francis’ coffin in the vast St. Peter’s Square.
On the other side sat cardinals who will pick Francis’ successor at a conclave next month. The Argentine pope, who reigned for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on April 21 Monday after suffering a stroke. “Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral Mass. The Vatican estimated more than 250,000 people attended the ceremony, cramming the square and the roads around.
After the funeral, as the great bells of St. Peter’s pealed in mourning, the coffin was placed on an open-topped popemobile and driven through the heart of Rome to St. Mary Major Basilica.
Francis, who shunned much of the pomp and privilege of the papacy during his 12year reign, had asked to be buried there rather than in the crypt of St. Peter’s, which is the traditional resting place for popes. The burial itself was being conducted in strict privacy.
The funeral provided an opportunity for Trump to have a brief meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Among the other heads of state who attended the funeral were the presidents of Argentina, France, Gabon, Germany, the Philippines, India and Poland, together with the prime ministers of Britain and New Zealand, and many royals, including the king and queen of Spain.
