Although seven other popes are buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, Francis will be the first not to be interred in St. Peter’s Basilica since Leo XIII, who died in 1903 and was laid to rest in the ...

Take a flight of discovery high above the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome’s four major papal basilicas. This ...

The Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, which Pope Francis chose as his final resting place, is a fifth-century church located in the centre of Rome that already holds the tombs of seven popes. The ...

Although seven other popes are buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, Francis will be the first not to be interred in St. Peter’s Basilica since Leo XIII, who died in 1903 and was laid to rest in the ...

The last pope to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore was Clement IX, back in 1669.This is not the only time the pope has broken with tradition: Francis also refused to live in the Apostolic Palace ...

'Santa Maria Maggiore has become an even more visited place of worship,' says the prefect of Rome, Lamberto Giannini. 'Already in recent days, we had many presences,' he recalls, ...

The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled to mark the end of the funeral Mass in Vatican City, where mourners joined in a final send-off for a pontiff celebrated as a champion of the poor.

Francis has broken with recent papal tradition by choosing to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore instead of St Peter’s Basilica. His decision is steeped in personal piety, history ...

He also asked that his “last earthly journey” end at the “very ancient Marian shrine,” of Santa Maria Maggiore, or St. Mary Major, in Rome.

On Sunday, the Vatican released images showing the tomb of Pope Francis at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, also known as Santa Maria Maggiore, in Rome. After the cardinals paid their respects ...

Although seven other popes are buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, Francis will be the first not to be interred in St. Peter’s Basilica since Leo XIII, who died in 1903 and was laid to rest in the ...