Pope Francis left simple yet clear instructions for his burial. He passed away on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025.
Image: Vatican News
Pope Francis left clear instructions for his funeral, asking for a simple and unadorned tomb inside the Roman basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore.
Francis passed away on Easter Monday following a stroke and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.
Releasing the Pope's official cause of death, Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, Dr Andrea Arcangeli, said Francis' death has been identified as a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.
"According to the medical report, the Pope had a prior history of acute respiratory failure caused by multimicrobial bilateral pneumonia, multiple bronchiectases, high blood pressure, and Type II diabetes," Vatican News reported.
"As I sense the approaching twilight of my earthly life, and with firm hope in eternal life, I wish to set out my final wishes solely regarding the place of my burial," the Pope wrote.
He said throughout his life and during his ministry as a priest and bishop, he always entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
"For this reason, I ask that my mortal remains rest - awaiting the day of the Resurrection - in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
"I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey, confidently entrusting my intentions to the Immaculate Mother, and giving thanks for her gentle and maternal care.
"I ask that my tomb be prepared in the burial niche in the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the Basilica. The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.
"The cost of preparing the burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which I have arranged to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. I have given the necessary instructions regarding this to Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Liberian Basilica," read the Pope's will, dated June 29, 2022.
Hours before his passing, Pope Francis spent part of Easter Sunday St Peter's Square in his popemobile.
seanne.rall@iol.co.za
IOL
