VATICAN CITY — Hundreds of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, a day after Pope Francis’ funeral, for another ceremony to honor him on the second of nine official days of mourning for the global Catholic Church.
But instead of world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump, who attended the funeral, the vast square and surrounding streets were filled with what Italian police estimated were 200,000 mainly young people, many wearing scouting uniforms or colorful T-shirts.
Sent as delegations from across Italy and several other countries, they had planned to come to Rome for a now-postponed ceremony to proclaim the first Catholic saint from the millennial generation.
Instead of honoring Carlo Acutis, an Italian boy who died from leukemia aged 15 in 2006, they were now honoring Francis, who died at the age of 88 on April 21 after 12 years leading the 1.4-billion-member Church.
“Even having to change plans, it is a joy to remember (Francis),” said Samuele Arregetti, an 18-year-old who had come from Bergamo in northern Italy for the Mass.
“We are very sad for his death but now thinking of him we are also happy … that he is in Heaven.”
Ahead of Sunday’s service, the young crowds pressed down the main boulevard through Rome towards the Vatican. Shouts of “viva Francesco” (long live Francis) and “il gioventu del papa” (the pope’s youth) were heard.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, led the ceremony. In his sermon, he told the young people present that Francis would have wanted “to meet you, to look into your eyes, and to pass among you to greet you.”
But Parolin, considered a leading contender in the coming papal conclave, did not offer much of his own vision for the future of the Church. His sermon was short, about 11 minutes, and stressed some of the central themes of Francis’ papacy.
Francis was buried on Saturday at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major. The first public visits to his tomb – which has just “Franciscus,” his name in Latin, inscribed on the top – started on Sunday morning.
Thousands have already visited the church, with police urging visitors to leave as soon as soon they have seen the tomb, to help keep the long queue moving.
No pope had been laid to rest outside the Vatican in more than a century, but Francis opted instead for burial in Santa Maria Maggiore, located in the Italian capital’s most multi-cultural neighborhood.
His coffin was taken there on Saturday after his funeral Mass in St. Peter’s square, with around 150,000 people lining the route through the heart of the city to say their farewells.
The casket was placed in a simple marble tomb in a side aisle of the basilica. Only his name in Latin is inscribed on top, while a reproduction of the plain cross that he used to wear around his neck hangs above the niche.
Visitors began queuing well before the Basilica opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and the church rapidly filled with well-wishers after the doors opened.
Francis was especially attached to the basilica because of his devotion to Mary, Mother of God. He prayed there before and after every overseas trip.
A venerated Byzantine icon of Mary is housed in the Pauline chapel near the tomb. A vase of golden roses, donated by Francis in 2023, sits among candlesticks under the icon. He last visited the chapel carrying a bunch of white roses on April 12.
A single white rose was placed on his tomb.
“So much intensity. He was a person close to everyone, so we respect him for what he did, each in our own way. Thank you,” said Carmelo Lamurra, a Rome resident.
Hundreds of world leaders attended the event, including President Ferdinand Marcoa Jr and First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos.
They are set to arrive today, according to Malacañang.
Marcos, in a social media post after the event, said he attended the funeral “as a gesture of deep respect — from one of the world’s most faithful nations, to a Pope who touched the hearts of millions.”
He said he represented not just the Philippine government in the event, but the everyday Filipino, especially the “prayerful, hopeful and grateful – who would have wanted to be there to say thank you to a shepherd who made them feel seen.”
“This is a moment of shared faith, national pride, and quiet tribute from the Filipino people to a Pope who walked with the humble and gave voice to the unseen,” Marcos also said.
The President last week declared a period of mourning from April 23 to April 26 over the Pope’s passing. Fracis was recognized by Filipinos for his compassion, concern for the poor, and his historic visit to the Philippines in 2015.
PRAYERS
In Manila, members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sunday asked the Filipino faithful to offer their prayers for the forthcoming conclave in the Vatican, which will decide on the next pope.
“We pray for guidance for the cardinals to identify the next pope that God has chosen for his Church,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo, vicar apostolic of Taytay (Palawan), said in a radio interview..
“Let us pray that the reforms that Pope Francis had initiated be continued by his successor,” said Bishop Oscar Florencio, military ordinariate of the Philippines.
The College of Cardinals will hold the papal conclave around 16 days after the pope’s death.
The conclave is unlikely to begin before May 6. Of the about 135 cardinals eligible to choose the next pope, three are Filipinos — Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization Pro-Prefect Luis Antonio Tagle, Manila Archbishop Jose Advincula, and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David.
On Saturday, David, who is also CBCP president, also asked the faithful to offer prayers for the forthcoming conclave.
