Hundreds of thousand say goodbye to “a pope among the people”

More than 200,000 gathered in St. Peter’s Square and its adjacent streets for the funeral Mass of Pope Francis. The liturgy was celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals. Concelebrating were hundreds of his brother cardinals, patriarchs, and bishops – among them Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark.

Less than a week ago, a frail Pope Francis appeared in the same square to bless the faithful on Easter Sunday and greet them from the Popemobile. A day later it was announced that he had died of a stroke.

In his homily, Cardinal Re looked back on the twelve-year pontificate of a man who “was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.”

The cardinal recalled how in taking the name of Francis, the pope “appeared to indicate the pastoral plan and style on which he wanted to base his pontificate, seeking inspiration from the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi.”

“With his characteristic vocabulary and language, rich in images and metaphors, he always sought to shed light on the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel,” Cardinal Re continued. “He did so by offering a response guided by the light of faith and encouraging us to live as Christians amid the challenges and contradictions in recent years, which he loved to describe as an ‘epochal change.’”

The Church as a “field hospital”

Cardinal Re reminded everyone of how Pope Francis “often used the image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ after a battle in which many were wounded; a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart; a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”

He then pointed to how Pope Francis boldly and bravely put those words into practice, especially in his papal travels which were an expression of his desire to bring Christ to the “peripheries” of the world and our society.

“Of his 47 arduous Apostolic Journeys,” Cardinal Re said, “the one to Iraq in 2021, defying every risk, will remain particularly memorable. That difficult Apostolic Journey was a balm on the open wounds of the Iraqi people, who had suffered so much from the inhuman actions of ISIS. It was also an important trip for interreligious dialogue, another significant dimension of his pastoral work. With his 2024 Apostolic Journey to four countries in Asia-Oceania, the Pope reached ‘the most peripheral periphery of the world.’”

In his words and deeds, Pope Francis also emphasized the “mercy and joy” of the Gospel, Cardinal Re said. He also was a voice of peace, who constantly urged world leaders to “build bridges, not walls.”

Cardinal Re concluded:

“Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.”

A final goodbye

At the end of Mass, as the coffin of Pope Francis was raised, the massive crowd applauded as he entered the Basilica of St. Peter’s one last time. Teens who had come for the Jubilee of Teenagers waved banners expressing their love and gratitude for his papacy. Inside the basilica the cardinals lined up to pray for and say goodbye to the Holy Father. His coffin was then driven through the streets of Rome, lined with citizens, to the place of his burial, the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Tomorrow the College of Cardinals will go to St. Mary Major for a vesper service to say a final goodbye to the Holy Father as the “Novemdiales,” the nine days of mourning for the pope, continues.

Featured image: An estimated 200,000 people gather in St. Peter’s Square and the neighboring streets to attend funeral Mass for Pope Francis at the Vatican April 26, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)