Pope Francis Funeral LIVE: Pope Francis' coffin arrives at St. Mary Major Basilica for private burial

Tens of thousands of mourners attended the funeral Mass for Francis at a seaside park near East Timor’s capital of Dili.

Francis made a historic visit to the overwhelmingly Catholic Southeast Asian country in September 2024, drawing over 600,000 people at the main event.

One of the migrants who met Pope Francis’ coffin at his place of burial said that Francis understood the difficulties faced by people who left their native countries.

Annamaria Martinez of Venezuela said “Francis always looked at the best part of every person.’’ She burst into tears as she said, “He was unique and I’m so sad now.’’

The 53-year-old said she hoped that Francis’ good work would continue. She was among 40 migrants, prisoners, homeless and transgender people organized by the Sant’Egidio and Caritas charities to meet the pope’s coffin to underline the care he took for the marginalized.

Around 150,000 people lined the streets of Rome on Saturday to watch as the pope’s coffin was driven past on its way to his final resting place, the Vatican said.

The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was held in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican but he will be buried in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.

Pope Francis’ coffin was met by bishops and top cardinals in St. Mary Major Basilica, where he will be buried in a private ceremony later Saturday.

Pallbearers paused before the icon of the Madonna that Francis revered in a final salute, and four children laid white roses at the altar of the chapel that contains the icon. The pallbearers then continued with the coffin toward the niche where Francis will be buried beneath a simple tombstone bearing his name in Latin.

The Vatican media footage returned to the icon and then to the basilica’s exterior to allow the burial to proceed in private.

Pope Francis’ coffin has arrived at St. Mary Major Basilica, where he will be buried in a private ceremony later Saturday.

It was met by about 40 migrants, prisoners, homeless and transgender people each holding a white rose. Their inclusion was emblematic of his care for the marginalized. Francis is the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican in 100 years.

A hearse carrying the coffin of Pope Francis makes it’s way on a road in Rome to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) on the day of his funeral, as seen from the Vatican. Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US President Donald Trump in Rome as the two leaders attended Pope Francis’ funeral.

“The meeting took place and is already over,” Zelensky’s spokesman, Sergiy Nykyforov, told journalists without elaborating.

Crowds applauded and yelled “Papa Francesco!” as a slow-moving motorcade escorting the pope’s coffin to his final resting place left the Vatican to make its way across Rome.

The coffin was visible from atop a modified popemobile. There was more clapping and church bells rang out as the popemobile emerged from a tunnel and crossed the Tiber River.

The popemobile was flanked by police on motorcycles.

The coffin is being carried on the back of a popemobile modified so mourners lining streets can view it. The 6-kilometer (3.5-mile) route crosses the Tiber River and passes Italy’s monumental Tomb of the Unknown soldier, the ancient Roman Forum and the Colosseum before reaching the basilica.

The coffin will be met by about 40 migrants, prisoners, and homeless and transgender people, reflecting the pontiff’s care for people who are marginalized.

More than 250,000 people assembled at St Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican said Saturday.

“The competent authority informs us that, while the funeral of Pope Francis has ended, more than 250,000 people are present,” said the Vatican in a brief statement Saturday at the end of the ceremony.

A litany of saints was sung out during the funeral Mass for Pope Francis, a meditative chant that is part of the traditional rites.

It was followed by a blessing from Eastern rite Catholic churches chanted in Greek by patriarchs and priests. The pages of the New Testament placed atop the coffin fluttered in the wind as Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re blessed the coffin with incense and holy water.

Presidents, royalty and a multitude of simple mourners bade farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday at his funeral, where a cardinal said the pontiff’s legacy of caring for migrants, the downtrodden and the environment must not die with him.

On one side of Francis’ coffin in the vast St. Peter’s Square sat U.S. President Donald Trump, who clashed with the pope on those issues.

On the other side sat cardinals who must decide if Francis’ successor should continue with his push for a more open Church or cede to conservatives who want to return to a more traditional papacy.

“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 Argentine pope, who had reigned for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke.

UK’s Prince William attended the funeral on behalf of his father, King Charles III.

He stood side by side with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for a moment’s silence in front of Pope Francis’s sealed coffin.

William, dressed in a dark blue suit and black tie, walked through the ornate basilica and down the steps into St. Peter’s Square, before shaking hands with a member of the clergy and being guided to his seat.

He is carrying out his most significant duty so far as heir to the throne. It is the first time the prince has represented the monarch at an international funeral.

Around 200,000 people have gathered around St Peter’s Square, according to the Vatican.

At least 162 delegations had confirmed attendance at the funeral. They include some 50 heads of state and at least 10 reigning monarchs.

More than 200 cardinals and some 4,000 clergy are also present.

The pope shunned much of the pomp and privilege usually associated with the papacy and will carry that desire for greater simplicity into his funeral, having rewritten the elaborate, book-long funeral rites used previously.

Francis also opted to forego a centuries-old practice of burying popes in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, he has been placed in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin, which was sealed closed overnight.

In a further break with tradition, he will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, some 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) from St. Peter’s, as his final resting place.

His tomb has just “Franciscus”, his name in Latin, inscribed on the top. A reproduction of the simple, iron-plated cross he used to wear around his neck hangs above the marble slab.

His funeral motorcade will drive him through the city for one last time, allowing Romans to say farewell.

As the world bids farewell to Pope Francis in one of the largest state funerals of the decade, global attention has turned not only to the solemnity of the rites at St. Peter’s Basilica but also to the diplomatic tensions set to unfold — particularly involving United States President Donald Trump.

This will be Trump’s first overseas trip since returning to the presidency in January, and it comes at a moment of serious unresolved geopolitical disputes.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized Pope Francis on Saturday as a pope of the people, a paster who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” with an informal, spontaneous style.

Re called Francis “a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.”

He recalled the last image many people have of Francis was of him delivering what would become his final blessing on Easter Sunday, and saluting from the popemobile in the same piazza where his funeral was being celebrated.

Pope Francis urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said on Saturday in his funeral homily.

“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” he said.

Pope Francis’s efforts to help refugees, migrants and poor people were “countless”, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said Saturday in his funeral homily.

“His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless,” Battista Re said in front of thousands of guests, including US President Donald Trump, with whom Francis had clashed over the treatment of migrants.

According to Italian police, over 140,000 people have currently gathered in St Peter’s Square and surrounding streets for Pope Francis’ burial.

That includes 40,000 people in St Peter’s Square, which is nearly at capacity.

The church choir is presently performing over loudspeakers across the Vatican. The throngs have calmed, and individuals are standing silently in respect.

People are watching the service on huge screens located across the city-state.

Some individuals are bending their heads in reverence, while others clasp their hands in silent prayer.

They carried the coffin, adorned with just a crucifix and Francis’ coat of arms, down the central aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica and out into the square at the start of his funeral.

Red-robbed cardinals lined the path and followed behind.

Acutis was supposed to have been canonized on Sunday as the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint.

The Vatican suspended the ceremony after Pope Francis died, but many people who had made plans to be in Rome for the canonization came anyway to attend the funeral. Announcers asked all flags and banners be lowered as the funeral was getting underway.

Pope Francis’ death has sparked tributes from across the world. The Latin American pontiff breathed his last on Monday (April 21) morning, a day after his final public appearance on Easter.

Francis was known for his humility and concern for the poor. The 88-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church marked his 12-year papacy with a shift from tradition. His funeral will reflect the pope’s last wish to diverge from the norms and have a simple ceremony.

Pope Francis’ casket will be carried from St. Peter’s Basilica to the front of the altar in the Square.

Mourners were told not to wave flags or banners during the march.

The funeral will be officiated by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

Re is a retired Vatican official and the ceremonial leader of the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Re cannot participate in the conclave to elect Francis’ successor because he is 91 years old and not a papal candidate. Cardinals 80 and older are not permitted to attend the conclave.

World leaders and royalty sat to the right of the main altar.

EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei have all made their way to their seating.

The Argentine and Italian leaders have a place of pride in the seating order.

The U.S. president clashed with the pope on immigration, climate and other issues.

Donald Trump arrived with his wife, Melania. He is among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral of Pope Francis.

Sister Nilma Navarro from the Philippines said that Francis was “the most humble person I have ever met,” adding that he shepherded people “not only in the Catholic Church. He also embraced other religions.”

Sister Christiana Neenwata called the late pope “a saintly man, gentle, a man of peace, who wanted peace for the whole world.” She also said they were “here to honor him because he always said: ‘Don’t forget to pray for me.’’’

Sister Rosa Mgane from Tanzania said she wanted to say goodbye to Francis because “he cared about everyone, and above all, he wanted peace.’’

Around 250,000 people visited St. Peter’s Basilica over three days to pay their respects to Pope Francis, the Vatican announced on Friday, as public viewing concluded and global leaders began arriving for his funeral.

Among the final visitors was French President Emmanuel Macron, with total attendance surpassing the 195,000 who came to honor Pope Benedict XVI after his passing in 2013.

The man who would become Pope Francis always bought his shoes in the same small store. And now, the remarkably ordinary footwear that surprised and charmed millions has brought pride to his old Buenos Aires neighbourhood — and to his cobbler.

The simple black shoes — a stark contrast to the flashy ruby red slippers of Francis’ predecessor, former Pope Benedict XVI — are among the pope’s personal effects that have captured attention as his death this week triggers an outpouring of emotion around the Roman Catholic world.

A sea of mourners has gathered to express grief and pay their final respects to Pope Francis, who lies in state at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. However, some visitors have turned the solemn occasion into an opportunity for smiling selfies and photo-ops.

These images, some shared online, have caused a stir and sparked massive outrage online. The Vatican, in a sharp response, has cracked down on “bad taste” selfies in front of the Pope’s open coffin and has warned visitors against using their phones, the Mirror reported.

Pope Francis chose his place of burial in St. Mary Major Basilica, near an icon of the Madonna that he revered, because it reflects his “humble, simple and essential’’ life, the archbishop who administers the basilica said Friday.

Francis, who died Monday at age 88, will be buried in a niche tomb in the basilica on Saturday after his funeral in St. Peter’s Square about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) away.

As the world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, who died at the age of 88 on April 21 at Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital, preparations for his funeral are underway.

The solemn ceremony is scheduled for  Saturday, April 26, at 10 am local time (1:30 pm IST) in St. Peter’s Square.