Final Tribute: Touching Note Buried with Pope Francis Revealed

A deeply personal tribute has been placed inside Pope Francis’s coffin, as revealed during the solemn funeral ceremonies held today in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican confirmed that the late Pope Francis, the 266th leader of the Catholic Church, who passed away aged 88 on Easter Monday, will be buried with a heartfelt note describing him as “a simple and much-loved shepherd.”

Thousands of mourners, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Prince William, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, gathered alongside world leaders and dignitaries to pay their final respects. An estimated 500,000 pilgrims flooded the Via della Conciliazione and camped overnight to attend the open-air service.

Pope Francis had been lying in state since Wednesday in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc inside St. Peter’s Basilica. This morning, ahead of the funeral, the coffin was sealed.

Inside, a touching obituary reflects on his life: it recalls his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, noting that he was “a simple and much-loved shepherd” who rode public transport, cooked his own meals, and lived among the people he served. The message also reads, “Francis will remain in the heart of the Church and of humanity,” and honors him as “a wonderful testimony of humanity, a life of a saint, and universal fatherhood.”

In a break from tradition, Pope Francis will be laid to rest in a single coffin rather than the customary three. The zinc inner lid is engraved with his name, a cross, his papal coat of arms, and the dates of his pontificate, from 2013 to 2025.

St. Peter’s Square was filled with emotional scenes as cardinals, bishops, priests, and pilgrims gathered in prayer. Clergy in simple white mitres and red stoles processed alongside the coffin, which carried the Pope dressed in a red damask chasuble and golden papal mitre.

The funeral Mass, led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Deacon of the College of Cardinals, began at 10 a.m. local time, as the world bade farewell to one of the most transformative Catholic leaders in recent memory.