Pope Francis will be buried with a heartfelt document, along with several other items that popes typically carry in their coffins.
As has been the custom of the Roman Church, he will be buried with a “Rogito,” a biography of the first Latin American pope.
Ecclesiastical Latin, the Catholic Church’s official language, is used to write the document, which is known as “Deed” in English. It is put inside the coffin after being sealed in a metal cylinder.
According to Vatican News, the Rogito is not the only item that is typically placed in the Pope’s coffin. Pope Francis, like his predecessors, was interred with his pallium, a white wool vest worn over the shoulders during church services, and coins and medals struck during his pontificate.
The Holy See Press Office released the complete Latin text of the Rogito ahead of today’s (April 26) Requiem Mass for Francis.
The note, which Vatican News published in English, described the 266th pope as a “simple and much-loved shepherd.”
Francis, whose real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was raised in a Buenos Aires family with Italian ancestry, according to The Rogito.
Francis was a Jesuit who studied philosophy and graduated from Chile.
Francis, the Archbishop of Buenos Ares, is said to have traveled “by subway and bus” and “lived in an apartment and prepared his own dinner, because he felt himself one of the people.”
Because “he wished above all to care for the poorest in the world,” he was given the name Francis, “following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi.” In 2013, after Benedict XVI resigned, he was appointed Pope.
The Rogito went on to say, “He exercised the Petrine ministry with unwavering dedication in favor of dialogue with Muslims and representatives of other religions, occasionally inviting them to prayer meetings and signing joint declarations for concord among the faithful of different creeds.”
It also explains how, while serving as pope, he chose to live in more modest quarters at the Domus Sanctae Marthae “because he could not do without contact with people.”
After Francis repeatedly pleaded for peace, aided “the innocent,” and led the Catholic world through the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rogito mentioned his hospitalization for bilateral pneumonia and his last public appearance on Easter Sunday this year, which was celebrated on April 20. He died the following day.
According to the Rogito, “Francis left to all a marvellous witness of humanity, of holy living, and of universal fatherhood.”
Following the funerals, which were attended by world leaders and citizens who gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pay their respects, the Pope, who was born in Argentina, will be buried in Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica, one of the city’s four main papal basilicas.
Francis himself requested to be buried in a simple underground tomb inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City rather than in the grotto.