Even before Saturday’s funeral service for Pope Francis at the Vatican, the leader known as “the People’s Pope” has defied some traditions in how pontiffs are laid to rest. His body has been lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica for three days, with visitors flocking in to pay their respects.
Unlike his predecessors, who were buried in three nested coffins made of cypress, lead, and elm, the famously humble Francis chose a simple wooden coffin.
That change was part of the recently updated funeral planning for pontiffs, which was published late last year and approved by Francis.
The updated Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, as it is known in Latin, also states that the pope’s body will be displayed in an open coffin for public viewing.
Another departure from tradition is the requirement that the pope’s death be confirmed in a chapel rather than his room.
“A second edition [of the official funeral rites for pontiffs] became necessary, first of all because Pope Francis has requested it, as he himself has stated on several occasions of the need to simplify and adapt certain rites so that the celebration of the funeral of the Bishop of Rome may better expresses [sic] the faith of the Church in the Risen Christ,” Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, said in a statement released by the Vatican at the time.
According to Archbishop Ravelli, “the renewed rite also needed to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”
The location of Francis’s burial marks another significant departure from papal funeral tradition.
In his last will and testament, which was published shortly after his death, Francis requested that he be buried outside the Vatican, in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore in Italian). He frequently visited the ancient church in Rome to pray before and after his travels.
Many popes are buried inside the Vatican, in the Vatican grottoes, a series of vaults on the lower level of St. Peter’s Basilica. According to the church, seven popes have been buried at St. Mary Major throughout history, with Francis becoming the first in centuries.
“I wish that my last earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary where I went for prayer at the beginning and end of each Apostolic journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and thank Her for her docile and maternal care,” the pope wrote in his will.
“The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus,” he demanded. This is also a departure from other popes’ tombs, which include an inscription commemorating their papacy.