Massive crowds fill St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’s funeral

“He was a pope among the people, with an open heart toward everyone.” This is how Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re described Pope Francis in Saturday morning’s funeral for the deceased pontiff. “The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open,” he added.

To illustrate his point: texts and prayers during the service were offered in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, German, and for the first time, Mandarin. The program for the funeral mass was published beforehand by the Vatican in English, Italian, and Latin.

Trump and Zelensky met prior to the service

Watching the service on live television was a moving experience for me. It was remarkable to see more than 250,000 people fill St. Peter’s Square from all over the world. They came in such numbers that more than four hundred priests were required to serve communion to all who wanted to receive it.

In addition, more than 250,000 mourners paid their respects to the pope in the previous days as his body lay in state. Among his last visitors were French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. He bowed his head; she made the sign of the cross. Many at the funeral were dressed in formal attire, but many others were in jeans and T-shirts.

Further illustrating the inclusive nature of the event, fifty heads of state and ten reigning monarchs attended the historic service. Among them were US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and United Nations General Secretary António Guterres. A Russian minister, a minister from Iran, and an ambassador from Israel also attended.

President Trump and President Zelensky met prior to the service, their first time to be together following their contentious argument in the Oval Office on February 28.

With Pope Francis’s burial, the church began nine days of official mourning, known as the novemdiales, then the conclave gathers to elect the next pope. (For more, see my explainer: “The funeral of Pope Francis and the papal conclave to follow.”)

“A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar”

The spirit of the funeral mirrored the spirit of the pope being memorialized. Francis was especially beloved for his personal humility and inclusive heart, characteristics he first manifested decades before his election as pope.

In media coverage of his death and funeral, many focused especially on his “Who am I to judge?” statement regarding gay people and his perceived openness toward the LGBTQ community and others whom critics consider to be marginalized by the church. Some are expressing their hope the next pope continues and even accelerates what they are portraying as Francis’s “welcoming” agenda.

Here’s an example: A letter purporting to be written by Pope Francis from the hospital is making the rounds widely on social media these days. It begins: “The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches.” The “letter” continues:

It is in hospitals that you see a homophobe being saved by a gay doctor.
A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar. . . .
Respect yourself, respect others. Walk your own path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you.
Respect: do not comment, do not judge, do not interfere.
Love more, forgive more, embrace more, live more intensely!
And leave the rest in the hands of the Creator.

However, this “letter” was not written by the pope. It is not found on any official Vatican sources such as the Holy See website, nor in his homilies, encyclicals, or public addresses. Versions of it have been attributed to Pope Francis for many years, but this is not true.

Furthermore, its advice to “walk your own path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you” is not just contrary to Catholic doctrine—it is unbiblical and even dangerous. It is Satan who whispers in our ear that we can be our own gods (Genesis 3:5). Scripture warns us against those who “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 4) and are “following their own ungodly passions” (v. 18).

By contrast, we are encouraged to “trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. . . . Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lᴏʀᴅ; and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:5, 7).

Francis himself described as “evil” the “notion that there are no indisputable truths to guide our lives, and hence human freedom is limitless.” Pope St. John Paul II agreed: “Only the freedom which submits to the Truth leads the human person to his true good. The good of the person is to be in the Truth and to do the Truth” (his emphasis).

“Something we have never fully lived before”

All Christians can learn from Pope Francis the urgency of loving every person as Christ loves us. We can wash the feet of sinners in the knowledge that we are sinners as well. We can kiss the faces of the disfigured and reach out to those in despair.

But Francis would agree that we love best when we love in truth.

In his preface to an upcoming book by Cardinal Angelo Scola, the pope wrote: “Life is life, and sugarcoating reality means betraying the truth of things.” Otherwise, as Paul warned us, we are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).

It is by “speaking the truth in love” that we “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (v. 15). Jesus taught us: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).

As we live biblically and help those we know to live biblically, we prepare for that day when our Lord will “set you free” forever.

In his preface, published by the Vatican after his homegoing, Francis wrote: “Death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something. It is a new beginning . . . because we will live something we have never fully lived before: eternity.”

What if it were today for you?

Quote for the day:

“No authentic progress is possible without respect for the natural and fundamental right to know the truth and live according to that truth.” —Pope St. John Paul II

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