Pope Francis funeral: 200,000 people bidding farewell to pontiff said 'build bridges, not walls'
Tens of thousands of people have packed St Peter's Square as the funeral of Pope Francis begins.
Royals, world leaders and cardinals joined scores of worshippers at the Vatican, as mourning of the 266th pontiff transcended wealth and social class.
In keeping with Francis's life as a breaker of tradition, many of the more elaborate and expensive rituals customary for the burial of popes have been foregone in favour of simpler options.
Around 200,000 people are attending the funeral, with around 50,000 packing out St Peter's Square.
2:24
His body had been lying in state since his death aged 88 on Easter Monday, spending the last few days in St Peter's Basilica to allow mourners to pay their respects.
The Vatican - where the funeral service is taking place - and Rome - where Francis will be laid to rest - are under heavy security, with a no-fly zone in place overhead.
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, along with Sir Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, headline a huge selection of global leaders and dignitaries.
Francis's coffin has been taken out into St Peter's Square where 220 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests are sitting in rows, waiting to say goodbye to the Bishop of Rome.
The pontiff eschewed the elaborate coffins used by many of his predecessors, opting instead for a simple wooden casket lined with zinc - a reflection of his efforts to reform the papacy and build "a poor church for the poor".
A series of readings and prayers are being read before the 50,000 faithful gathered before the basilica, and the coffin will be sprinkled with holy water and incense.
2:27
It began with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re reading the Penitential Act - a way for the faithful to confess their sinfulness.
This was followed by the Liturgy of the Word, a part in Catholic mass where faithful gather to hear and reflect on the word of God.
Cardinal Re then delivered the homily, speaking about Pope Francis' life and service to God.
1:21
The cardinal praised the pontiff as someone who "touched the minds and hearts of people" who was "attentive to the signs of the times".
He added: "Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life."
He said Francis "was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone".
Cardinal Re also repeated one of Francis's strongest criticisms of President Trump - who was in the audience - with a call to "build bridges not walls".
He also called for care for migrants and action on climate change.
At the end of the mass, the choir will sing in Latin: "May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you into the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem."
After the service, Pope Francis's body will be taken in procession through the streets of Rome to his final resting place at his favourite church, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
He will be ushered into the basilica - dedicated to the Virgin Mary - by prisoners and migrants, a last reflection of his priorities as pope.
In a break with tradition, the Pope outlined in his will his request to be buried "in the ground, without particular ornamentation" but simply with the inscription "Franciscus".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
7 hours ago
- Spectator
Why the Imperial War Museum's Holocaust error matters
The Imperial War Museum is supposed to be one of Britain's guardians of historical truth. Yet in its description of the Nuremberg Laws, the Nazi edicts that laid the legal groundwork for the Holocaust, the museum claims they defined Jews by religious observance. It's a small phrase, but it's entirely wrong. And it matters. The Nazis did not care whether you kept kosher, went to synagogue or even believed in God. The Nuremberg Laws defined Jewishness by ancestry: if three of your four grandparents were Jewish, you were Jewish. You could be baptised, married to a Christian, serving in the German army. None of it mattered. What mattered was blood, and Jewish blood was inferior. That was the essence of Nazi anti-Semitism. So when the Imperial War Museum reframes the laws as being about religious observance, it blurs that essential truth. It may only be one information board, but this reflects a growing pattern of soft Holocaust distortion – not outright denial, but something subtler, a steady sanding down of uncomfortable facts. Across the Atlantic, America's largest teachers' union, the NEA, recently published an education handbook for its three million members that somehow failed to mention Jews at all when discussing International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Instead, it referred vaguely to 'more than 12 million victims from different faiths.' The six million Jews murdered are dissolved into a melting pot of victims, their specific targeting erased. This is not accidental. It's the logical end of a mindset that treats specificity as divisive, identity as negotiable, and history as something that can be endlessly reframed to fit the political mood. To say the Holocaust was about 'different faiths' is to suggest a pluralism that did not exist. Whoopi Goldberg infamously said on her talk show in 2022 that the Holocaust wasn't about race, but 'about man's inhumanity to man.' She later apologised, but by then, millions had already been exposed to this notion. There's a reason why this soft revisionism is dangerous. It shifts the moral lesson of the Holocaust from the truth – that entire families were exterminated because of their race – to a vague, feel-good warning against 'intolerance' in general. It turns a unique atrocity into just another example of prejudice, no different from a dozen others. Once that specificity is gone, the Holocaust becomes easier to repurpose for contemporary political battles. It is being used to describe the war in Gaza, even though no real parallels can be drawn – not in terms of Israel's actions or its motivations. And when Jews are erased from their own history, it becomes easier to downplay anti-Semitism in the present. Britain's national institutions should be the last place we find such errors. They are entrusted with telling history accurately, especially the parts that make us uncomfortable. If they can't get the Nuremberg Laws right, they hand ammunition to those who would happily rewrite the Holocaust altogether. Holocaust distortion, minimisation, and denial are already rife on and offline. On Telegram, half of the content about the Holocaust denies or distorts facts. Teachers in UK schools have reported hearing Holocaust denial and distortion from pupils. This becomes even more dangerous when trusted institutions get it wrong. As for the IWM, the wording of its information board would have gone through several layers of expert historians and professionals before it was displayed. Worryingly, the museum has refused to change the board, despite two leading historians pointing out that it is incorrect. Caro Howell, the IWM's director general, is reported to have written that, 'we stand by the curatorial choices that we have made and that our expert advisers have reviewed'. History shows that small errors can have big consequences, especially when they reinforce an existing trend. The Holocaust didn't begin with gas chambers; it began with words, laws, and a reframing of identity that turned millions of Jews into 'others'. Much of the language used by the Nazis in the 1930s is being used to dehumanise and demonise Jews today. Although often disguised as anti-Zionism, the rhetoric is eerily familiar. Many Jewish businesses, homes and institutions have been sprayed with Swastikas since the war in Gaza started. They're now appearing in schools, too. In 1945, the world promised 'Never again'. In 2025, perhaps we should start by insisting: never forget – and never distort.
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Reuters
Zelenskiy to meet Starmer in Downing Street ahead of Trump-Putin summit, Sky News reports
Aug 14 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Thursday, Sky News reported citing the British government.
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Andrew Bolt's withering two word response to Jewish commentator's call for the Albanese Government to admit 'it's on the same side of Hamas'
A former Israeli government official has been told to 'dream on' by a Sky News presenter after suggesting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese roll back his recognition of Palestine. The Prime Minister announced on Monday that Australia would recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations next month, following other Western allies. Albanese's declaration was welcomed by Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas and one of the terror group's most senior figures in the West Bank. Eylon Levy, the former spokesman for Israel, joined Andrew Bolt on Sky News to slam Albanese. 'Australia is rewarding Hamas for the October 7 massacre and encouraging more terrorism, more barbaric atrocities against Israeli civilians,' he said. 'I hope the Australian Government is holding some serious crisis talks to discuss how on earth they ended up on the same side as a globally-prescribed, terrorist, Jihadi organisation.' Mr Levy then suggested the praise from Yousef gave Albanese an opportunity to reconsider his decision 'Hamas is giving Australia, the Australian government, a ladder to climb down from this tree,' he said. 'There's no shame in saying: 'We made a mistake. We were wrong. We don't want to be on the same side of Hamas. We're on the same side as our democratic ally, Israel'.' Bolt then issued the two-word rebuttal: 'Dream on.' The presenter then raised Albanese's claim from Monday that he had ensured commitments from the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas. Among them, Abbas had said Hamas will play no future role in the Palestinian state, free elections will be held and that he will demilitarise. Abbas, who has not faced election since 2005 in the notoriously corrupt West Bank, has also promised to end 'pay to slay' rewards for terrorists and their families. 'It's like taking the word of a teenager to clean his bedroom when it hasn't been cleaned in 20 years and he doesn't even have a broom,' Mr Levy said. 'Mahmoud Abbas says he's going to stop Hamas taking over a Palestinian state. Hamas is by far the most popular Palestinian party. 'The only thing now that is stopping Hamas from taking over the West Bank is the Israeli security presence there.' Mr Levy served as an Israeli government spokesman and was a globally recognised voice of the country following Hamas' October 7 attack in 2023 in which terrorists stormed the Nova music festival in Israel, killing 1,200 people. He previously served as the international media advisor for President Isaac Herzog after a career as a TV news anchor. Prior to the end of his time in government, Mr Levy was suspended until further notice after the British Foreign Office complained about him, The Times of Israel reports. The furore is understood to have been about one of his tweets, which responded to comments by Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron about aid access in Gaza. He told the publication last year it was 'difficult to believe' his suspension was 'really about the tweet to David Cameron because I tweeted government policy and facts'. Mr Levy had written a now-deleted post on X responding to another one from Lord Cameron that urged Israel 'to allow more [aid] trucks into Gaza', the BBC reported. 'I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity,' Mr Levy said. 'Test us. Send another 100 trucks a day to Kerem Shalom and we'll get them in.' More than two million Palestinians face severe food insecurity, based on United Nations projections. Israel has denied responsibility for the lack of food in the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of stealing aid shipments. It has also denied there is starvation among the population, although it has restricted the flow of food to Gaza for months, according to international human rights groups.
