ROME, ITALY (APRIL 26, 2025) (ANADOLU-ACCESS ALL) ROME, ITALY - APRIL 26: Following a funeral mass at the Saint Peter's Square in Vatican, Francis’ coffin was carried in procession to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, where will be buried. Over 250,000 people, joined by world leaders and royal, paid their final respects to Pope Francis on Saturday, Apr. 26, at his Requiem Mass. The Solemn and moving celebration was presided over by cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who was joined by some 250 cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, priests, and consecrated religious. The leader of the Catholic Church was born in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936, to Italian immigrant parents. He studied in Argentina and later in Germany before being ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969. Over a decade into his papacy, Pope Francis remained a figure of admiration and controversy. He sought to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy, tackle corruption, and address some of the church’s most pressing challenges. The pope was admitted to a hospital in Rome in February with bronchitis, which developed into bilateral pneumonia. He was discharged after 38 days to continue his recovery at his Vatican residence. Pope Francis died on Monday at the age of 88.