The funeral of Pope Francis has taken place in the Vatican.
The man who led the Catholic Church for 12 years, steering it through a period of change, died on Monday morning.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who led the Mass, said the Pope had touched minds and hearts and wanted to build bridges, not walls.
An estimated quarter of a million mourners packed the streets, with tens of thousands inside St. Peter’s Square itself.
Pope Francis’s body will be interred in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.
It’s a place close to the Pope’s heart, which he visited after every trip abroad to pray.
Among the many global heads of state and leaders attending were Presidents Trump and Zelensky.
After paying their respects, they held their first meeting since the bitter exchange at the White House in February.
President Trump said it had been very productive.
President Zelensky said that, as well as being symbolic, it had the potential to be historic if joint results could be achieved.
Even for a pope defined by his humility, determined to be buried in a way that reflected the poverty of the people he served, there was no avoiding the grandeur of the setting or the history of the moment.
Pope Francis had chosen a simple wooden coffin, and it was in front of this that world leaders, including President Trump, paused to pay their respects.
They came from all over the world — not only from Christian nations.
Prince William represented the King; the Prime Minister also paid his respects.
There was a ripple of applause as President Zelensky of Ukraine appeared on the big screen.
This was not a moment for politics, but for reflection and remembrance.
Next, the cardinals filed past — for the first time, a majority of the men who will choose his successor are non-European, a sign of the impact Pope Francis had on the Church.
Pope Francis had requested that his coffin not be raised but placed level with the people as the funeral Mass began.
Then followed the Liturgy of the Word and two Bible readings:
“A reading from the Acts of the Apostles:
In those days Peter opened his mouth and said,
‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.’”
The service was led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who said:
“He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone.
He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.
With his characteristic vocabulary and language rich in images and metaphors,
he always sought to shed light on the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel.”
In front of world leaders — many of whom won power with messages contrary to that of Pope Francis — there was praise for his championing of the poor and the disadvantaged:
“His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless.
His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant.”
The Vatican says 250,000 people attended the funeral.
Many took communion — from the poorest to the most powerful.
As final prayers were said, the Vatican, the wider Catholic community, and much of the rest of the world said their farewells to Pope Francis.
He passed through St. Peter’s Basilica one final time, starting the journey across Rome to his final resting place at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
His burial in a poorer area of the city stands as a final example — even in death — of the principles by which he lived his life.
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