had gathered to give a final send-off to a pontiff who was celebrated during the service as a champion of migrants and the poor.

His funeral Mass was held on the steps of the basilica, one of the Catholic Church’s most important sites, with more than 50 world leaders and 11 reigning monarchs in attendance. The crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Mass watched mostly in silence, breaking it only to sing and follow along with prayers, and to applaud when they saw Francis’ coffin. The modest coffin was carried back into the basilica for a final time at the end of the roughly two-hour-long service, which saw him praised as a “pope among the people.” It was then taken in procession across the River Tiber to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore for burial, passing Rome’s ancient Colosseum on the way.

“I loved him from the very first moment, because he was human, with such an open heart,” said Anita Althaus, from Hofheim, Germany, just as the funeral Mass ended. She’d driven overnight to make it in time. “He had love always.” More than 250,000 people participated in the service in St. Peter’s Square, according to the Vatican. About 150,000 more lined the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) procession route from Vatican City through Rome to his final resting place.

Many more of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics watched the funeral for the first Latin American pope on TV. Pope Francis died at the age of 88 after suffering a stroke on Easter Monday, just one day after he appeared in the same square to offer a blessing to the faithful at the high point of the Christian calendar. In the days that followed, about 250,000 mourners came to pay their final respects as his body lay in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica. His coffin was officially sealed on Friday night in a liturgical rite led by the Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell, the acting head of the church.

As sunlight gleamed off the massive travertine columns of St. Peter’s Square on Saturday morning, the funeral Mass opened with the chant, sung in Latin: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.” Giving the homily, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, said Francis’ “gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant.” (CNN)