Vatican officials have shared the will left behind by Pope Francis, which details his burial request, hours after the pontiff passed away from a cerebral stroke that led to heart failure.
“Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in the Eternal Life, I wish to express my testamentary will only with regard to the place of my Burial,” the document begins.
Written in June 2022, the will details the pope’s burial preferences, which differ from pontiffs from the past few centuries.
“I have always entrusted my life and the priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest waiting for the day of the resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore,” the document continues.
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Francis said that he wanted his “last earthly journey to end in this ancient sanctuary.”
The will also asks for Francis to be buried in the earth, “without particular decorum and with the only inscription: Franciscus.”
“I ask that my tomb be prepared in the hole of the aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica as Indicated in the attached annex,” it reads.
He also stated that burial expenses should be covered with the sum of the benefactor whom Francis arranged with.
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“I have arranged, to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and of which I have provided to give Appropriate instructions to Mons. Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Chapter Liberian,” his will reads.
“May the Lord give the well-deserved reward to those who have loved me and will continue to pray For me. The suffering that was made in the last part of my life I offered to the Lord For peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples,” it ended.
Francis, 88, died Monday morning at the Vatican. Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, the head of the Vatican’s health department, said that the stroke put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure, according to an afternoon update from Vatican officials.
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“I certify that His Holiness Francesco (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on December 17, 1936, Resident in Vatican City, Vatican Citizen, died at 7.35 am on April 21, 2025, in his apartment at the Domus Santa Marta (Vatican City) of: Brain stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiocollaspe,” the report read.
Arcangeli added that Francis also suffered from episodes of “respiratory insufficiency,” as well as his recent bilateral pneumonia. Officials said the pope also suffered from type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Francis, who had battled pneumonia for weeks before being released from the hospital, faced health complications for many years and had half of one of his lungs removed when he was young.
He was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013, and was the first Jesuit to become pope.
The pope’s last public appearance was on Easter Sunday at St. Peter’s Square.
Fox News’ Thomas Ferraro, Alec Schemmel, and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
