The Papal Basilica of Santa María la Mayor in Rome, where Pope Francis is buried and where he prayed before and after his trips, has a new arciprest, the Lithuanian cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, until now Arcipreste coadjutor of the aforementioned temple.
The Press Office of Vatican He informed this Friday, July 4 that Pope Leo XIV thanks for his service to Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, who is now 80 years old and has served as Archpriest of Santa María la Mayor since December 2016.
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The arciprest of Santa María la Mayor is responsible for the administration and government of the temple, including liturgical and pastoral functions, as well as the legal representation of the basilica.
Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko was born in Poland on July 4, 1945. He was ordered priest in Krakow on March 30, 1969, when he was 23 years old.
Pope San Juan Pablo appointed him secretary of the Pontifical Council for the laity in the Vatican, on December 20, 1995 and received the consecration as bishop on January 6, 1996.
In October 2003, he was appointed president of the same Pontifical Council, a position in which he remained until 2016 when he became arciprest of Santa María la Mayor. Cardinal was created on November 24, 2007.
Who is Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas?
Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas is the new arciprest of the papal basilica of Santa María la Mayor in Rome. He was born on January 31, 1972 in Lithuania. He is 53 years old and was ordained a priest on July 20, 1996, at age 24.
He was appointed officer of the aforementioned Basilica in December 2021 and in March 2024 he was appointed coadjutor Arcipreste, that is, with automatic succession, after the acceptance of the resignation of the previous arciprest, which has happened today. Cardinal was created on December 7, 2024.
Cardinal Makrickas and a revelation of the Virgin Mary
In April of this year, Makrickas said that on May 13, 2022, the day of the Virgin of Fatima, he asked Pope Francis if he had thought to have his grave in Santa María la Mayor, for his strong link with the Virgin Safety of the Roman people (Health or salvation of the Roman people), and the Holy Father replied that no, because “the potatoes must be buried in the Basilica of San Pedro” in the Vatican.
Exactly a week later, on May 20, Pope Francis called the Cardinal to go to the Santa Marta house in the Vatican, where he lived the 12 years of his pontificate, and Makrickas says that the Holy Father told him:
“The Virgin has told me ‘Prepare your grave’ “he added: “I am happy that the Virgin has not forgotten me”.
In his will, Pope Francis detailed his last desire: to be buried in a simple grave, “without particular ornamentation” and in a side nave of the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, near the chapel dedicated to the Safety of the Roman people.
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.