I know you will be wondering why Pope Francis will request that he should be buried in Rome, outside Vatican City.
Pope Francis has chosen not to be buried in St Peter’s Basilica alongside his immediate predecessors, but in a basilica in Rome.
He revealed this choice in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
“The place is already prepared. I want to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore,” the pontiff, who turns 87 this weekend, told Mexican broadcaster Televisa’s N+ streaming service.
In the same interview, he revealed he planned to visit Belgium in 2024 and also hoped to visit his native Argentina and Polynesia.
Pope Francis’s decision meant he would become the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican for more than 100 years.
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The last to eschew a tomb in St Peter’s was Leo XIII, who died in 1903. His remains lie in the Basilica of St. John the Lateran in Rome.
Reason
Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four papal basilicas in Rome and one with which Francis said he felt a “special connection”.
He would often go there on a Sunday while visiting Rome before becoming pope.
Since his election in 2013, he has prayed there before and after taking a trip and has also prayed there after undergoing surgery.
Seven popes have previously been laid to rest in the basilica, according to the Vatican News official media outlet.
