World Leaders and Faithful Mourn Pope Francis at Solemn Funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square - Faith & Freedom News

Vatican City, April 26, 2025 – An estimated 200,000 worshippers, dignitaries and heads of state gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for a solemn funeral Mass honoring Pope Francis. The ceremony blended two millennia of Christian tradition with the Argentine pontiff’s hallmark humility, punctuated by waves of applause as his simple coffin was carried into the square and later into St. Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, opened the Requiem by reflecting on Francis’s pastoral heart. “The outpouring of affection in recent days tells us how deeply his pontificate touched minds and hearts,” he said, praying for the pope’s eternal happiness “in the bright and glorious gaze of God’s immense love.”

To the left of the coffin, 149 cardinals robed in red sat in tight formation; to its right, representatives from more than 130 nations. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s President Javier Milei occupied the first row, joined by former U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. Catholic faithful lined the streets leading into the square, swelling the crowd as the two-and-a-half-hour service progressed.

The homily celebrated Francis’s informal, “among-the-people” leadership style and his advocacy for the marginalized. Re highlighted the pope’s countless gestures in favor of refugees and displaced persons, recalling visits to Lampedusa and Lesbos and a Mass on the U.S.–Mexico border. Quoting Francis’s call to “build bridges, not walls,” Re underscored the pontiff’s challenge to political divisions—an implicit rebuke of then-candidate Trump’s border wall proposal.

While Anglican, Orthodox, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Zoroastrian leaders joined the front rows, no official Islamic representative attended—though refugees and homeless, longtime beneficiaries of Francis’s solidarity, were present in large numbers. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I sat among the delegation, marking only the second time an Eastern Orthodox leader attended a papal funeral (the first being John Paul II’s in 2005).

Notable absences included Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who sent envoys in their stead. After the Mass, Zelensky and Trump reportedly met privately to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

Latin hymns, Gregorian chants and psalms filled the air as readings emphasized Christian duty to welcome all. Francis’s chosen Gospel, John 21’s “Feed my lambs,” symbolized his lifelong commitment to serve “with the smell of the sheep.” Since Tuesday, more than 250,000 faithful had queued to pay respects as the late pontiff lay in state.

Two solemn prayers—one Latin, one Greek—concluded the service. Cardinals then incensed the pope’s staff, and the Magnificat was sung in Latin. His coffin was driven through Rome in a white hearse, allowing onlookers a final farewell before burial at the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Among the mourners were thousands who had gathered for unrelated events—the canonization of Carlo Acutis and a Jubilee youth pilgrimage. “It was an indescribable emotion,” said 14-year-old Samuel Turi, “knowing one day we’ll tell our children we were here.”