The Vatican spread footage from Pope Francis’ grave in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (video)
The Vatican spread footage from the grave of Pope Francis to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The Pope violated the uninvited tradition of the Roman high priests being buried in the crypt of St. Peter and pointed to one of the most ancient Roman churches dedicated to the Mother of God in his will to be a place of his eternal rest.
The Basilica « Santa Maria Maggiore », in which the Pope’s tomb is, is one of the four great basilicas in Rome. There is a famous Byzantine icon of the Goddess with the Baby, in front of whom the Pope loved to pray before and after every apostolic journey. In 867 there Pope Adrian II consecrated the liturgical books in Old Bulgarian in the Slavic first Apostles Cyril and Methodius.
« Stop this slaughter »: which words of Pope Francis will never be forgotten
In his will, the Pope also broke another tradition. Francis’ desire was to be buried in a simple wooden galvanized ark, not triple – closed in each other and made of cypress, lead and oak.
The grave is in the side of the Basilica, between the Paulin Chapel and the Chapel « Sforza », near the « altar of St. Francis ». Above the grave, the Pope wished a slab of Liguri marble (from Liguria is the Italian family of his mother) with a cross and a single inscription « Francis ».
Pope Francis’ funeral: the most important
The grave is distinguished in a niche or a van in the wall and this procedure is known as a tumulation, notes the Italian edition of Fanpage.
At least 400,000 people have gathered at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis and have ran the streets along the route of the cortex to the Basir « Santa Maria Maggiore », said Italian Foreign Minister Mateo Piantedoses.
