Tina Magnergård Bjers/TT
1 / 3 Photo: Gregorio Borgia/AP/TT
Pope Francis does not want to be buried in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica where over 90 popes have been laid to rest.
Instead, he wants to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome – near his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary.
However, the Pope, who turned 87 on Sunday, has no plans to retire from office. Next year he intends to travel to Belgium and possibly also to Polynesia and his native Argentina. However, he is open to changes, he emphasizes in an interview with the Mexican television channel Televisa, which is reproduced by the news agency AP.
– I ask the Lord to tell me when it is enough, when he wants me to (leave).
The last few days have been marred by health problems. Just days before Pope Francis was due to travel to the climate summit in Dubai, he was forced to cancel the trip, as he suffered from pneumonia.
In June, he was treated in hospital for nine days for, among other things, bleeding in the stomach, and earlier this spring he was in hospital with chest pains and tracheal catarrh. Add to that that two years ago the Pope operated on removing around 30 centimeters of the colon after an inflammation. And at 21, he underwent an operation that involved the removal of part of one of his lungs.
The Argentine also suffers from chronic knee pain. He is often seen in a wheelchair or with a crutch.
Special band
Pope Francis has previously said that if he steps down, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did in 2013, he wants to live outside the Vatican City in Rome, in a home for retired priests.
As Pope, he is also the Bishop of Rome, a role he takes very seriously. So great that he developed a special bond with the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, near the main Roma Termini station, and the icon of the Virgin Mary that is there.
The icon is a Byzantine-style painting of Mary dressed in blue holding the baby Jesus who in turn holds a golden, jeweled book. After his travels, the pope usually goes to the shrine and prays in front of it, AP writes.
– It is my great devotion, the Pope says in the interview and adds that he has already decided that he will be buried near the icon in the church.
– The place is prepared.
First in 100 years
If that happens, he will be the first pope in over 100 years to be buried outside the Vatican City, notes the AFP news agency.
It is common for popes to be buried in the crypts under St. Peter’s Basilica or in side chapels of the sanctuary. The last pope to be buried there was Leo XIII, who died in 1903. His remains are in the Lateran Basilica, which is also Rome’s cathedral.
Throughout history, seven popes have been buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, according to the Vatican news service.
FACT Pope Francis
Catholics see the Pope as the head of the Church and at the same time Jesus’ representative on earth.
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires. His parents were Italian immigrants. Bergoglio trained as a chemist and has also studied literature and psychology.
He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969 and later served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, before being elected Pope on March 13, 2013.
He took the name Francis after the saint Francis of Assisi. He was an Italian orderly and founder of the Franciscan order who, among other things, devoted himself to the care of lepers and the poor and reformed the church. He also received a summons to live without possessions and without a fixed abode.
Sources: The Catholic Church and the National Encyclopedia
Read more