A simple wooden coffin amidst extraordinary opulence

I watched the pope’s funeral from the window of an historic palace overlooking St Peter’s Square.

But this place, in a prime location adjoining the Vatican, no longer houses a rich and powerful Roman family.

In 2019 the building, Palazzo Migliori, was gifted to Rome’s homeless by Pope Francis.

It was a controversial decision at the time; some were outraged that the pope would turn a grand palace into a homeless shelter.

Today, the centre can accommodate 45 residents. They’ve shared meals with the pope in their very simple dining room, near the kitchen and the laundry room.

As I sat at that same table today with some of those homeless people, the exquisite liturgy of the Papal Requiem Mass filled the room. Most of the residents were outside, in the Square, praying, singing, and remembering the man who once described the poor as the true princes of the church.

At the funeral mass there were actual princes, and kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers in attendance.

130 national delegations, 50 heads of state, 220 cardinals, 750 bishops and hundreds of priests were seated in the courtyard outside St Peter’s Basilica. 200,000 filled the main square and the street leading to the church.

The extraordinary opulence of St Peter’s was the backdrop to dramatically contrasting image: a simple wooden coffin at the centre of it all.

Pope Francis rarely visited Rome before he became pope; a Vatican official told me the Argentinian cardinal felt out of place in this city.

Francis requested that simple coffin to contain his mortal remains. It may have been the final sermon he preached — at his own funeral.

This was a profoundly moving occasion, but one which reflected the late Pope’s humility and approachability.

The simple wooden and zinc coffin was placed in front of St Peter’s Basilica.

The ceremony was presided over by Cardinal [Giovanni Battista] Re, who told mourners that Pope Francis touched hearts and minds, and made his own particular mark on the church and the world.

At the end of the ceremony, his coffin was placed on a converted Popemobile. It was brought through the streets of Rome, people lining the route to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he had requested to be buried in a simple tomb, bearing only his name: Francisco.