Pope Francis' Funeral: World Leaders and Thousands Gather in Vatican City for Tearful Farewell

Pope Francis' funeral was held in St. Peter's Square. The Pope's coffin was brought to the square on Saturday. His funeral prayer meeting lasted for 90 minutes. After this, he will be buried outside the Vatican. Pope Francis died on Monday at the age of 88. After this, his body was kept for the last darshan. Millions of people from all over the world attended Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday. Presidents of many countries, members of the royal family and common people came to his funeral.

Leaders of more than 150 countries were present at Pope Francis' funeral. 220 cardinals, 750 bishops and more than 4,000 priests participated in the funeral prayer meeting of the Pope. Lakhs of people had reached the Vatican since Friday evening. About two to two and a half lakh people came to his funeral. Last year, Francis had expressed his wish to simplify the traditions and customs of the Vatican and make them simpler for his funeral ceremony.

Pope Francis was known for big changes

According to the official order of his life kept in the Pope's coffin on Friday night, Francis made radical reforms regarding his post in 12 years as Pope and emphasized on the priests being servants. He started working in this direction just a few days after his selection in 2013. Prince William and European royal families, along with Indian President Draupadi Murmu, Trump, former US President Joe Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and EU leaders led more than 160 official delegations.

Huge television screens were installed on the streets around St. Peter's Square so that people could watch the Pope's funeral. Francis' coffin was placed in the Popemobile, which he used during his visit to the Philippines in 2015. During this time the government had made tight security arrangements.

After the death of Pope Francis, a period of change has started in the Roman Catholic Church. This church has about 1.4 billion people. Pope Francis was the first non-European Pope in nearly 13 centuries. He tried to change the Roman Catholic Church during his 12-year tenure. He appealed to rich countries to help migrants and stop climate change.