The church to become the place of rest of Pope Francis

Whenever Pope Francis returned to Rome after a trip abroad, he made sure to visit the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

It was an appropriate choice: Francis was particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary, and Santa Maria Maggiore was the first church to be dedicated to her during its construction in the 4th century.

It is one of the four large basilicas in Rome and one of the oldest in the city.

On Saturday, he will also become the last place of rest of Francis.

It is a short walk of some of the most recognizable monuments in Rome such as the Coliseum, and a stone throwing of the city’s central and chaotic station. The diversified district of Esquilino is nearby.

Santa Maria Maggiore feels imbued with the “real” Rome – although he is technically part of the state of the Vatican.

The square on which it stands – bordered by bus stops, cafes and stores – certainly seems a world far from the Place de St Peter de Peter and its imposing basilica, under which the popes are generally buried in sece crypts.

And yet, the chapels, the mosaics and the golden wood of Santa Maria Maggiore remain superb. Seven other popes are buried here.

The basilica also hosts what is a relic of the cradle of Jesus and an icon of Mary, to whom Pope Francis would pray to request protection before a trip.

The senior priest of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Lithuanian Rolandas Rolandas Makrickas, gave the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero his story of the way in which the Pope’s decision to rest came there.

He said: “In May 2022 … I asked him if he was not by chance, thinking of being buried in (the basilica), given the frequency to which he came.”

Francis smiled and said the popes are buried in St Peter’s – “and it was”, thought Makrickas.

The priest continued: “A week later, he called me and said to me:” The Virgin Mary told me to prepare my grave “.

“Then he just said to me:” Find a place for that, because I want to be buried in this basilica and you have been a little prophet “.”

The place that Mackrickas has found is next to Mary’s icon that the pope loved so much. He is now completed and obscured by the plywood.

A security guard who wanted to remain anonymous told news from the Pope Francis BBC visiting the church several times.

“Yes, we saw it all the time when he came here,” he said, stopping to severely invite tourists to put their phones or cover their shoulders.

“After a few times to see him, he looked at me once and asked me:” Why are you still there? “”

“And I said:” Saint-Père, I work as you are “.”

While the security guard spoke, people continued to flow from the flamboyant sun in the silent nuance of the basilica.

Several wooden stands outside in queue, each surmounted by a panel indicating in which languages ​​the priests inside could hear confessions.

Every few minutes, the chatter would be temporarily appeased by a whistling voice on the speaker: “Silenzio”.

Outside, a woman called Manchester Pat folded the sun and gathered her thoughts.

“I came here because this is where the Pope came first of all,” she told the BBC, raising his voice on the sound of noon bells.

“This is why I always wanted to come and it did not disappoint.”

After a break, she said, “Beautiful is not the word. It’s just large, it’s huge.”

Excusing that she could not have been able to put her emotions in words, she said that she was “particularly impressed” that many chapels hold different masses at different times “, so if you are late for one, you can enter another”.

Pat learned the news of the Pope’s death when his UK plane landed in Rome on Monday morning.

This did not reduce his visit. As a devout Catholic, she said that Santa Maria Maggiore “was always the place where I wanted to come” because Francis loved her.

“I came without any preconceived idea and I wanted to read on this subject, I just wanted to take the atmosphere and feel it.”

“And I did,” she said, looking up at the basilica. “I am full of mind.”

Saturday afternoon, after the world had the chance to say goodbye to him, Pope Francis will make his last trip from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore, as he did so often in life.

The church will be closed for a few hours, then the flow of visitors will resume.

Some, like Pat, will continue to come to the basilica and will try to put something intangible in words. Others will simply admire mosaics.

And on the left side, by an icon of the Virgin Mary, the new resident of Santa Maria Maggiore will begin her rest.