April 22, 2025 | 07:20 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Pope Francis expresses his desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in 2023.
As reported by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, the basilica is located in the heart of Rome. This fifth-century church has already been the burial place for seven popes.
The most recent pope to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669, while the last pope buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII in 1903, whose final resting place is the Church of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome.
Pope Francis has a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary and always prays at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore before leaving abroad and upon returning. Most recently, he prayed before the Virgin Mary’s icon inside the basilica on April 12, marking the beginning of Holy Week, which culminates in Easter.
Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four papal basilicas in Rome, and it also houses the remains of several other notable figures, including the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who designed St. Peter's Square and its surrounding colonnade.
The interior of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore closely resembles its original design, with its central section lined with 40 Ionic columns and decorated with beautiful mosaics.
One legend associates the basilica with the Virgin Mary from its very inception. It is said that a wealthy Roman couple, who had no children, wanted to donate their wealth to the Virgin Mary. In a vision, Mary instructed them to build a church in her honor, where a miracle would occur. Snow fell on a summer night in August 352 on the hill where the basilica now stands.
Another legend tells of Pope Liberius dreaming of the miraculous fall of snow during summer.
However, according to the Vatican, nothing remains of the original church. The construction of the current basilica began around 432 under Pope Sixtus III.
The basilica houses some of the most important relics of the church, including the icon of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, which is attributed to Saint Luke.
It also possesses pieces of wood believed to come from the manger of Jesus, and recent research has determined that the wood dates back to the time of Jesus's birth.
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