Pope Francis allows his burial outside the Vatican

Pope Francis has revised the funeral rites that will be used when he dies, simplifying the rituals to emphasise his role as a mere bishop and allowing for burial outside the Vatican in keeping with his wishes.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano on Wednesday published details of the updated liturgical book, which Francis approved on April 29 and which replaces the previous edition that was last published in 2000.

Francis turns 88 in December and, despite some health and mobility problems, appears in fine form. On Wednesday, he presided over a spirited general audience that featured children who spontaneously rushed the stage.

While popes often tinker with the rules regulating the conclave that will elect their successor, a revision of the papal funeral rites became seemingly necessary after Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31, 2022.

The Vatican had to work out a funeral for the first retired pope in 600 years, and a few months later Francis revealed he was working with the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Ravelli, to overhaul the papal funeral rites to simplify them.

In that 2023 interview with Mexican Televisa broadcaster N+, Francis also revealed that he had decided he would be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, not in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s Basilica where most popes are buried.

Ravelli said the new reform simplifies the funeral rites, including eliminating the requirement that the pope be placed on an elevated bier in St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. Rather, he will be on view in a simple coffin, and the burial no longer requires the traditional three coffins made of cypress, lead and oak.

The simplification, Ravelli was quoted as saying, is meant “to emphasize even more that the Roman Pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world.”

Since his 2013 election, Francis has eschewed the pomp often associated with the papacy to emphasize his role as the bishop of Rome and a servant of the “church of the poor.” The Argentine Jesuit lives in the Vatican hotel, not the Apostolic Palace, and travels in small Fords or Fiats, not fancy SUVs.

His desire to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore reflects his veneration of an icon of the Virgin Mary that is located there, the Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the people of Rome). 

After every trip, Francis goes to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus who in turn holds a jewelled golden book.

“It’s my great devotion,” Francis told N+ in revealing his future burial plans. “The place is already prepared.”