Pope Francis’ Ardent Love for St. Mary Major, His Final Resting Place

National Catholic Register, 24 April 2025

Of all the great basilicas of Rome, the one dedicated to the Blessed Mother was his favorite.

On the night of his election on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis told the assembled faithful from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica that “tomorrow I wish to go and pray to the Madonna.” 

And so he did, visiting the Basilica of St. Mary Major the next day. It was his first trip. It will also be his final trip, as his mortal remains will be taken there for burial. In between, he visited more than 100 times.

There are four major “papal basilicas” in Rome: St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls. St. Mary Major was the Holy Father’s favorite. 

St. Mary Major: An Ancient Icon

That first full day of his pontificate, Pope Francis traveled across town to St. Mary Major to pray before the venerated image of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, “Protectress of the Roman People.” The icon, by pious tradition painted by St. Luke, first came to Rome from the East in the fifth century, when Mary was declared the Theotokos — Mother of God — at the Council of Ephesus in 431.

Pope St. Gregory the Great had the image carried in procession through Rome during an outbreak of the plague in 593. During the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 15, 2020, Pope Francis visited St. Mary Major as he walked alone in the empty Roman streets to pray for his city. Twelve days later, during his solitary Eucharistic adoration to pray for an end to the pandemic, the Salus Populi Romani was brought to St. Peter’s for the occasion.

That ancient icon, much beloved by the local people, gained new prominence toward the end of World War II, when Pope Pius XII asked all Romans to beseech the Madonna to protect the city from devastation as Allied troops moved closer. Fearing that a battle between Allied and German forces would devastate the city, the faithful gathered in prayer on June 4, 1944. By that evening, the last German troops had withdrawn and the Allies secured the city peacefully. Mary, under the title of Salus Populi Romani, was given thanks.

Last year, for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Rome, a local feast day was observed in the Diocese of Rome for the Blessed Mother under the title, Salus Populi Romani — with June 4 fixed as the date.

Pope Pius XII, himself a Roman, had a particular devotion to that “local” Marian image. Ordained a priest on Easter Sunday 1899, Father Eugenio Pacelli offered his first Mass the next day, April 3, 1899, in the chapel of the Salus Populi Romaniicon at St. Mary Major — the very same chapel that Pope Francis visited the day after his election.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had a devotion to that icon before his election, visiting it when he came to Rome. That pious practice is not rare. For example, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York also visits St. Mary Major upon arrival in Rome, often going straight there from the airport.

Pope Francis decided to visit the icon before every foreign trip. And whenever he returned to Rome, his motorcade often went to St. Mary Major first, before returning to the Vatican. 

The Holy Father ordered a restoration of the icon and, upon the completion of the work in January 2018, came to St. Mary Major to offer a Mass of thanksgiving and rededication. 

In 2023, Pope Francis announced that he would be buried at St. Mary Major; his tomb has been prepared near the Salus Populi Romani icon. While most popes are buried at St. Peter’s in the Vatican, Pope Francis will be the  eighth to be buried at St. Mary Major.

The last pope to be buried outside the Vatican was Pope Leo XIII in 1903, who chose to have his tomb at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Leo’s predecessor, Blessed Pius IX, chose to be buried at St. Lawrence Outside the Walls.

The Lateran Archbasilica — Cathedral of Rome

In the history of the papacy, the Lateran grounds and complex were originally more important than the Vatican. The Lateran was the residence of the popes for a thousand years — longer than St. Peter’s. Five ecumenical councils have been held at the Lateran; two have been held at the Vatican.

The Lateran archbasilica (the only “archbasilica” in the world) remains the cathedral of Rome, the seat of the bishop of Rome. It became the cathedral, seat of the bishop of Rome, in the fourth century, and it remained the cathedral even after the popes transferred their residence to the Vatican.

Leo XIII (1878-1903) came to the papacy while the question of the Papal States was still unresolved. Consequently, he never left the Vatican during his long 25-year pontificate. Knowing that a bishop belongs in his cathedral, he was determined to get there in death if he could not do so in life. Thus, he directed that his tomb be at St. John Lateran.

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