Pope Leo XIV went to the papal basilica of Santa María la Mayor in Rome, to pray before the tomb of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who is buried there.
According to Vatican News, the Holy Father arrived at the Marian Basilica after visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Council, his first surprise visit.
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As recalled, Pope Francis was buried in Santa María la Mayor for his wish, expressed in his will, released after his death on April 21.
In the Basilica is the Marian icon of the Safety of the Roman people (Salvation of the Roman people), before which Pope Francis prayed before and after his apostolic trips.
In the days following the death of Francisco, the coadjutor arciprest of the Basilica, Cardinal Rolanda Makrickas, said that the Holy Father told him what the Virgin Mary revealed: “Prepare the grave”, were the words of the Mother of God to the Argentine Pope about his burial in the imposing Marian temple.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.