Pope Francis’ funeral concludes at St Peter’s Basilica, his coffin moves out of Vatican

VATICAN: The funeral mass of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday, concluded at St Peter’s Square on Saturday with the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolling to signal the end of the 2 hours and 10 minutes long service.

Large crowds lined up along Rome’s streets to pay their respects to Pope Francis as the white popemobile carrying his coffin made its way across the Vatican flanked by motorbikes on its way to the pope’s final resting place, a place of his choosing.

Pope Francis’ coffin was transported across the River Tiber to the fifth-century church in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where bells tolled ahead of the arrival of the pontiff’s body. The Basilica of Saint Mary Major in was a place that the pope visited frequently throughout his 12-year papacy.

The coffin of Pope Francis passed by the Colosseum, one of the historical sites of the Italian capital.

Earlier as the pallbearers lifted his coffin and took it back into St Peter’s Basilica as per CNN, the crowd – mostly hushed for the two-hour service- burst into applause.

The coffin was carried in the open-topped popemobile that the pope used during his 2015 trip to the Philippines.

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

The service concluded with the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Magnificat.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,” the choir chanted.

Pope Francis’ coffin has been carried through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica for a final time. The bells tolled slowly as the coffin approached the main altar of the basilica.

The funeral began on Saturday with an elaborate set of rituals at the square, six days after where Francis made his final public appearance for Easter.

According to an earlier report by the CNN, around 2,00,000 people descended on St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said, to mark the death of Pope Francis – the first Latin American pontiff. Among those are 130 delegations, including world leaders and reigning monarch.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, one of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church, conducted the service. The 91-year-old honored Francis’ ability to lead with “an open heart towards everyone” in his sermon, describing him as a “pope among the people.”

In his homily at the funeral the 91-year-old prelate stressed that Pope Francis during his 12-year papacy had been “attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church”.

“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” Cardinal Battista Re said, adding that the late pontiff touched people’s hearts “in a direct and immediate way”.

He also cited a key document written by Francis a decade ago on climate change and visits by the pope to the Mediterranean islands of Lampedusa and Lesbos, where he met migrants and refugees in detention camps.

He also suggested the cardinals electing the next pope might take a lesson from the some 250,000 people who paid their final respects to Francis in St Peter’s Basilica in the three days before the funeral.

“The outpouring of affection that we have witnessed in recent days following his passing from this earth into eternity tells us how much the profound pontificate of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” Cardinal Battista Re said.

Pope Francis died at the age of 88 after suffering a stroke on Easter Monday, just one day after he appeared in the same square to offer a blessing to the faithful at the high point of the Christian calendar, CNN reported. (ANI)