Catholic faithful, mourners from around the world attend funeral for Pope Francis
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Under a majestic, bright blue sky, an open-air funeral Mass was held on Saturday morning for a man who looked to open the Church to the masses.
More than 250,000 people, including heads of state, royalty and the ordinary Catholic faithful were in attendance for the funeral of Pope Francis, who was remembered for his humility and humanity.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, delivered the moving homily, painting a picture of a man from Argentina who used his 12-year pontificate to spread love.
"He was a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a Pope attentive to the signs of the times," Cardinal Re said. "The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open."
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Pope Francis wanted a simple service, but the rituals of Catholic mass remained, mixed within the psalms and prayers in different languages.
The Argentine pontiff choreographed the funeral himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican's rites and rituals last year. He aimed to emphasize the pope's role as a mere pastor and not "a powerful man of this world."
It was a reflection of Francis' 12-year project to radically reform the papacy, to stress priests as servants and to construct "a poor church for the poor." He articulated the mission just days after his 2013 election and it explained the name he chose as pope, honoring St. Francis of Assisi "who had the heart of the poor of the world," according to the official decree of the pope's life that was placed in his coffin before it was sealed Friday night.
As droves of people attended the funeral in person, tens of millions also watched from around the world, including from Pope Francis' homeland.
Thousands of mourners assembled outside the Buenos Aires cathedral where Pope Francis used to give homilies as archbishop to pay homage to the first Latin American pontiff as the funeral rites were unfolding in Rome.
Although the funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square began around dawn in Buenos Aires, many Argentines woke up to follow the broadcast live. Hours later, a giant procession made its way to the capital's downtown square of Plaza de Mayo for an open-air Mass. The faithful filled the streets, some weeping openly as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Garcia Cuerva, delivered his sermon, struggling to hold back his own tears.
"We cry because we don't want death to win, we cry because our father has died, we cry because we already feel his physical absence in our hearts," Garcia Cuerva said. "May our tears water our homeland."
Following the funeral, the pope's simple wooden coffin was loaded into a makeshift Popemobile for a procession. Driven through the streets of Rome past ancient and famous landmarks like the Coliseum, more than 150,000 people lined the streets.
The crowd included Edna San'ana, who saw the pope on Easter Sunday in St. Peter's Square, from Old Branch, New Jersey. She took pictures of his Popemobile rolling by last Sunday -- today, she watched his body pass on the way to his final resting spot.
As Francis' motorcade climbed the final stretch, people tried to find a perch, while children who gravitated to Pope Francis became part of history.
Pope Francis' outreach resonated with the younger generations, thousands of whom were present in St. Peter's Square to mourn the late pontiff during his funeral. Approximately 80,000 teenagers had registered for the Jubilee of Teenagers, a special event for worshippers between the ages of 12 and 17 during the Catholic Church's 2025 Jubilee year, according to the Dicastery for Evangelization, a department of the Roman Curia-the central governing body of the Catholic Church.
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Meanwhile, mourners were overcome with emotion as the Popemobile approached the pope's beloved Basilica of Saint Mary Major. A group of what the Vatican called "poor and needy" greeted the body at the steps of the Basilica before Francis was buried.
His tombstone reads "Francois" -- simple and humble, just like the man.
Some information from ABC News and The Associated Press.
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