Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The world's mighty came to St. Peter's Square, while the poor waited to say their last goodbye to him in front of Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
Between two wings of huge crowds, Rome and the world bid farewell this morning to Pope Francis, during the funeral service led by the Cardinal Dean of the Sacred College, 91-year-old Giovanni Battista Re. At the end of the rite, the mortal remains of the pontiff were carried in the long procession from the Vatican to the Marian basilica where the pontiff chose to be buried.
Since this afternoon, Francis has been resting in a tomb that simply bears the inscription Franciscus, a few steps from the icon of Maris Salus Populi Romani before which he paused so many times in prayer during his 12-year pontificate.
The celebration of Francis’s funeral – with its solemn, yet simple liturgy – was marked by a distinct division: on the left side of the altar sat cardinals, bishops, Eastern patriarchs, and representatives of other Christian confessions, all in their distinctive robes, in Rome for this moment of universality of the Church, while on the right side, the representatives of more than 160 countries around the world and the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierres personified the world of politics.
Attention in this group was dominated by US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who – surprisingly after the tensions of recent weeks – met before the service for an unprecedented tête-à-tête inside St Peter's Basilica, which many view as a sign of hope for peace in Ukraine that Francis so often invoked.
Many prominent Asian heads of state and government were also present at the funeral: presidents like India’s Shrimati Droupadi Murmu, the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Timor-Leste’s José Ramos Horta. The Indonesian delegation was led by former President Joko Widodo, Bangladesh by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Japan by Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, and South Korea by Culture Minister You In-chon.
As announced, a Taiwanese delegation led by former Vice President Chen Chin-Jen was in attendance, but no one from the People's Republic of China. The Council of Chinese Bishops (the collegial body of mainland Chinese bishops, whose members are no fully in communion with Rome after the 2018 agreement) only sent a message of condolence, which state news agency Xinhua dryly reported, without giving any details on the contents of the message.
During the funeral, the only real visible sign of the unprecedented attention shown by Pope Francis to China was one of the prayers, read in Mandarin, something that even the Global Times, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, did not fail to note in its coverage.
Unlike China, Vietnam was represented. Although the Southeast Asian country and the Holy See have not yet established full diplomatic relations, it was represented by Ambassador to Italy Dương Hải Hưng and First Secretary Nguyễn Đăng Hải Hùng, another clear sign of the historic progress made during Francis's pontificate with the presence of a permanent Vatican representative in the Vietnamese capital.
The Middle East was represented by Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, president of the United Arab Emirates, where Francis signed the Declaration on Fraternity in Abu Dhabi in 2019; King Abdallah II of Jordan, and President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon. Palestine was represented by Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa, Israel by its ambassador to the Holy See Yaron Sideman, and Iran by Culture Minister Seyed Abbas Saleh Shariati.
In his homily, Cardinal Re mentioned the presence of Pope Francis in the same square just six days ago. “He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved his sheep to the point of giving his life for them,” the prelate said. “And he did so with strength and serenity, close to his flock, the Church of God, mindful of the words of Jesus quoted by the Apostle Paul: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35).
Speaking about the 47 apostolic journeys Pope Francis made, Card Re singled out the one in Iraq in 2021 “defying every risk” to be the “balm on the open wounds of the Iraqi people, who had suffered so much from the inhuman actions of ISIS.” With the 2024 apostolic visit to four nations in Asia-Oceania, Francis instead reached "the most peripheral periphery of the world.”
“Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying, “Do not forget to pray for me,” noted the Cardinal Dean of the Sacred College. “Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.”
