Roman Catholic faithful began visiting the tomb of Pope Francis on Sunday, filing past the simple white tomb in St. Mary Major Basilica a day after he was bade farewell by the powerful of the world and a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025. Many world leaders are expected to attend his funeral in Vatican City, including President Donald Trump, Prince William, and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

No pope had been laid to rest outside the Vatican in more than a century, but Francis opted instead for burial in Santa Maria Maggiore, located in the Italian capital's most multi-cultural neighbourhood.

Francis, who took his name after Saint Francis of Assisi, was known for his outreach to the poor and those in poverty and that will be reflected in his minimalist burial at Saint Mary Major. He is the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century and the first to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore in more than 300 years.

Mourners bid farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral that highlighted his concern for the 'most peripheral of the peripheries.'

According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century.