ROME, Apr 27 – Images of Pope Francis’ tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore Church in Rome have been released.
A single, white rose was pictured lying on the stone tomb that bears the name he was known by during his pontificate, below a crucifix illuminated by a single spotlight.
The late pope was laid to rest at the church – one of four major basilicas in the Italian capital, and one he would regularly visit during his time as cardinal and pontiff – in a private ceremony following his public funeral in the Vatican on Saturday.
Mourners queued outside the church early on Sunday morning to be among the first to pay their respects to Pope Francis, who died aged 88 on Monday.
Francis was particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary, and Santa Maria Maggiore was the first church to be dedicated to her when it was built in the 4th Century.
The basilica sits near the Colosseum, a stone’s throw from the city’s endlessly bustling and chaotic central Termini station – well beyond the limits of the Vatican, where popes are traditionally entombed.
Francis’ funeral was attended by heads of state, heads of government and monarchs from around the world – as well as hundreds of thousands of Catholics who lined the streets leading to the Vatican to pay their respects.
Hymns played out on giant speakers, occasionally drowned out by the sound of helicopters flying overhead, before 91-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re gave a homily on the pope’s legacy.
The cardinal emphasised that Pope Francis had repeatedly urged the world to “build bridges, not walls”.
