A group of poor people will welcome
late Pope Francis's body at St Mary Major where he will be
buried Saturday, the Vatican said Thursday.
The body will be taken from St Peter's, where he has been lying
in state and viewed by tens of thousands, to the Marian basilica
at a walking pace on Saturday morning.
Santa Maria Maggiore was beloved of Francis who always prayed to
the Virgin there before and after foreign trips.
"'The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God.' So also
in the heart and in the Magisterium of the Holy Father, who
chose the name Francis so as never to forget them. For this
reason, a group of poor and needy people will be present on the
steps leading to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to
pay their last respects to Pope Francis before the burial of his
coffin," read a statement from the Holy See.
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