The church will retire by Pope Francis

Every time Pope Francis returned to Rome after a trip abroad, he made sure that he visited the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

It was a suitable choice: Francis was particularly dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and Santa Maria Maggiore was the first church to be built in the 4th century.

It is one of the four large basilicas in Rome and one of the oldest in the city.

On Saturday it will also be Francis’ final resting place.

It is a short walk from some of the most famous sights of Rome such as the Colosseum and a stone’s throw from the endless busy and chaotic central mini station of the city. The diverse district of Esquilino is nearby.

Santa Maria Maggiore feels in the “real” Rome – even though she is technically part of the Vatican state.

On the square on which he is lined with bus stops, cafés and shops – a world seems to be a world away from the impressive St. Peter’s Square under which popes are normally buried in centuries of crypt.

And yet the chapels, mosaics and gold -plated wood from Santa Maria Maggiore remain breathtaking. Seven other popes are buried here.

The basilica also houses a relic of Jesus Crib and an icon of Maria, to which Pope Francis would pray for protection before a trip.

Santa Maria Maggiores Senior Priester, the Lithuanian Rolandas Makrickas, gave the Italian newspaper IL Messaggero his report on how the Pope’s decision to rest there came about there.

He said: “In May 2022 … I asked him if he had no opportunity to think about being buried in (the basilica) because he has come often.”

Francis smiled and said that Popes are buried in St. Peter’s – “and that was,” thought Makrickas.

The priest continued: “A week later he called me and said:” The virgin Maria told me I should prepare my grave “.

“Then he just told me: ‘Find a place for it because I would like to be buried in this basilica and you were a bit of a prophet.”

The place that Mackrickas found is located next to the icon Mary, which the Pope loved so much. It is now cordoned off and covered by plywood.

A security guard who wanted to remain anonymous told BBC news from Pope Francis, who visited the church several times.

“Yes, we saw him all the time when he came here,” he said, interrupting himself to strictly invite tourists to put their phones away or cover their shoulders.

“After seeing him a few times, he looked at me once and asked me: ‘Why are you always here?’

“And I said: ‘Sacred father, I work just like you’.”

When the security guard spoke, people continued to flow from the blazing sunshine in the calm shadows of the basilica.

Several in the queue outside of wooden stands, each crowned with a sign, in which the languages ​​could hear the priests on the inside.

Every few minutes, the chatter would currently be calmed down by a voice above the loudspeaker: “Silenzio”.

Outside, a woman named Pat from Manchester blinked in the sun and collected her thoughts.

“I came here because the Pope came here before every trip,” she told the BBC and raised her voice over the sound of the midday bells.

“That’s why I’ve always wanted to come and it didn’t disappoint.”

After a break, she said: “Beautiful is not the word. It’s just huge, it’s enormous.”

She apologized that she was unable to put her emotions into words, and said that she was “particularly impressed” that many of the six chapels hold different masses at different times.

Pat heard the news about the Pope’s death when her plane from Great Britain landed in Rome on Monday morning.

It didn’t push your visit. As a pious Catholic, she said that Santa Maria Maggiore was “always the place I wanted to come” because Francis loved it that way.

“I came up without any preconceived idea and pointed it out, not read about it, I just wanted to take the atmosphere and feel them.”

“And I did it,” she said, watching the basilica. “I’m full of spirit.”

On Saturday afternoon, after the world had the chance to say goodbye, Pope Francis will make his last trip from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore, as he did so often in life.

The church is closed for a few hours, then the visitor current will be resumed.

Some, like Pat, will continue to come to the basilica and try to put something intangible into words. Others will simply admire the mosaics.

And on the left, the latest resident of Santa Maria Maggiore will start his peace through an icon of the Virgin Mary.