The veneration of Virgin Mary is central to Catholics, from popes to the ordinary faithful. Pope Leo XIV closed the first ...

Santa Maria Maggiore was founded in 432, a year after the Council of Ephesus declared Mary to be the Mother of God. It is the only basilica in Rome that preserves the primitive early Christian ...

The pontiff's funeral began on the morning of Saturday, April 26, in St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica ... to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary," Francis ...

After his funeral on Saturday, he will be laid to rest in the Basilica ... Mary holding baby Jesus. This icon was brought to Rome from the East in the fifth century, when Mary was declared the ...

In a break from tradition, Pope Francis has been laid to rest at the Basilica of St. Mary ... entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary," he wrote in the will.

Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88, previously announced his intentions to be buried at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a break in tradition from popes of the past.

Instead, he chose St. Mary Major, a basilica on the other side of Rome ... Here we are in front of the icon of Mother Mary in the St. Mary Major church. People are gathered in this side chapel.

In his will, he wrote that he had visited the Marian basilica at the beginning and the end of every apostolic trip he took during his 12-year papacy. The map highlights St.Mary Major Basilica ...

he went to the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel in the medieval village of Genazzano and on the drive back stopped to pray by Pope Francis’ tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.