Hundreds of thousands of mourners joined world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, to bid farewell Saturday (Apr 26) to Pope Francis, a champion of the poor who strived to forge a more compassionate Catholic church. The Vatican said 400,000 people packed St Peter's Square and lined the streets of Rome for the funeral of the first Latin American leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
After a solemn funeral, the Argentine pontiff's plain wooden coffin – a testament to a life of humility – was driven slowly to Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore church, where he was interred in a private ceremony.
Cardinals marked his coffin with red wax seals before it was lowered into a tomb set inside an alcove, according to images released by the Vatican.
Fourteen white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin into the church, as children placed baskets of flowers at the altar and a choir sang prayers.
The marble tomb is inscribed with just one word: "Franciscus", his papal name in Latin.
Trump was among more than 50 heads of state at the funeral. He met several world leaders in a corner of the St Peter's basilica before, notably Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face meeting since their Oval Office clash in February.
