Mighty and meek say goodbye to Pope Francis at funeral where he is remembered as pope of the people

VATICAN CITY AP World leaders and Catholic faithful bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral Saturday that highlighted his concern for people on the largest part peripheral of the peripheries and reflected his wishes to be remembered as a simple pastor Though presidents and princes attended the Mass in St Peter s Square prisoners and foreigners welcomed Francis coffin at his final resting place in a basilica across town According to Vatican estimates specific people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and more lined the motorcade road through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century They clapped and cheered Papa Francesco as his simple wooden coffin travelled aboard a modified popemobile to St Mary Major Basilica specific kilometers -miles away As bells tolled the pallbearers brought the coffin past several dozen immigrants prisoners and homeless people holding white roses outside the basilica Once inside the pallbearers stopped in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary that the church is famous for and that Francis deeply revered Four children deposited the roses at the foot of the altar before the burial ceremony began I m so sorry that we ve lost him mentioned Mohammed Abdallah a -year-old migrant from Sudan who was one of the people who welcomed Francis to his final resting place Francis helped so several people refugees like us and numerous other people in the world Earlier Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized Francis during the Vatican Mass as a pope of the people a pastor who knew how to communicate to the least among us with an informal spontaneous style He was a pope among the people with an open heart towards everyone the -year-old dean of the College of Cardinals explained in a highly personal sermon He drew applause from the crowd when he recounted Francis constant concern for movers exemplified by celebrating Mass at the U S -Mexico territory line and travelling to a refugee camp in Lesbos Greece and bringing asylum seekers home with him The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all a home with its doors inevitably open Re declared noting that with his travels the Argentine pontiff reached the the bulk peripheral of the peripheries of the world An extraordinary meeting about Ukraine on the sidelines Despite Francis focus on the powerless the powerful were out in force at his funeral U S President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy U N Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined Prince William and continental European royals leading more than official delegations Argentine President Javier Milei had pride of place given Francis nationality even if the two didn t particularly get along and the pope alienated a great number of in his homeland by never returning there In an extraordinary enhancement Trump and Zelenskyy met privately on the sidelines of the funeral A photo revealed the two men sitting alone facing one another and hunched over on chairs in St Peter s Basilica where Francis often preached the need for a peaceful end to Russia s war in Ukraine Tens of thousands flocked before dawn to the Vatican Francis choreographed the funeral himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican s rites and rituals last year His aim was to emphasize the pope s role as a mere pastor and not a powerful man of this world It was a reflection of Francis -year project to radically restructuring the papacy to stress priests as servants and to construct a poor church for the poor He articulated the mission just days after his voting and it explained the name he chose as pope honoring St Francis of Assisi who had the heart of the poor of the world according to the official decree of the pope s life that was placed in his coffin before it was sealed Friday night The white facade of St Peter s glowed pink as the sun rose Saturday and throngs of mourners rushed into the square to get a spot for the Mass Giant television screens were set up along the surrounding streets for those who couldn t get close Police helicopters whirled overhead part of the massive precaution operation Italian bureaucrats mounted including more than police soldiers and a torpedo ship off the coast Italian media informed Multiple mourners had planned to be in Rome anyway this weekend for the now-postponed Holy Year canonization of the first millennial saint Carlo Acutis Groups of scouts and youth church groups nearly outnumbered the gaggles of nuns and seminarians He was a very charismatic pope very human very kind above all very human noted Miguel Vaca a pilgrim from Peru who declared he had camped out all night near the piazza It s very emotional to say goodbye to him A special relationship with the basilica Francis the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope died Easter Monday at age after suffering a stroke while recovering from pneumonia Even before he became pope Francis had a particular affection for St Mary Major home to a Byzantine-style icon of the Madonna the Salus Populi Romani He would pray before the icon before and after each of his foreign trips as pope The popemobile that brought his coffin there was made for one of those trips Francis visit to the Philippines and was modified to be able to carry a coffin The choice of the basilica was also symbolically crucial given its ties to Francis Jesuit religious order St Ignatius Loyola who founded the Jesuits celebrated his first Mass in the basilica on Christmas Day in The basilica is the resting place of seven other popes but this is the first papal burial outside the Vatican since Pope Leo XIII who died in and was entombed in another Roman basilica in Following the funeral preparations can begin in earnest to launch the centuries-old process of electing a new pope a conclave that will likely begin in the first week of May In the interim the Vatican is being run by a handful of cardinals key among them Re who is organizing the secret voting in the Sistine Chapel Crowds waited hours to bid farewell to Francis Over three days this week more than people stood for hours in line to pay their final respects while Francis body lay in state in St Peter s Basilica The Vatican kept the basilica open through the night to accommodate them but it wasn t enough When the doors closed to the general population at p m on Friday mourners were turned away in droves By dawn Saturday they were back several recalling the words he uttered the very first night of his electoral process and throughout his papacy We are here to honor him because he reliably noted don t forget to pray for me mentioned Nigerian Sister Christiana Neenwata So we are also here to give to him this love that he gave to us Associated Press writers Vanessa Gera in Vatican City and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed