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Francis Laid To Rest As 400,000 Mourn Pope ‘With An Open Heart’

…I Drove 16 Hours To Be At The Funeral – 16-year-old Germany Student
Pope Francis was laid to rest in Rome Saturday after a Vatican funeral for the “pope among the people” attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders including US President Donald Trump.
Around 400,000 people packed St Peter’s Square and lined the streets in Rome to say goodbye to the Argentine pontiff, a champion of the poor who had led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics since 2013.
After a solemn funeral in front of hushed crowds, Francis’s plain wooden coffin — a testament to a life of humility — was driven slowly to Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore church, where he will be interred in a private ceremony.
Guatemalan Maria Vicente, 52, holding a rosary in her hands, cried as she watched the coffin being carried into Santa Maria Maggiore, the pope’s favourite Rome church.
“It made me very sad. It’s touching, that he left us like that,” she said.
Fourteen white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin into the church, as children placed baskets of flowers at the altar and a choir sang prayers.
The marble tomb of the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader is inscribed with just one word: “Franciscus”, his name in Latin.
More than 50 heads of state were present at the funeral, including Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.
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– ‘An open heart’ –
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was “a pope among the people, with an open heart”, who strove for a more compassionate, open-minded Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his homily.
There was applause from the masses gathered under bright blue skies as he hailed the pope’s “conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open”.
Francis sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy, and his death prompted a global outpouring of emotion.
Maria Mrula, 28, a student from Germany, said she drove 16 hours to be at the funeral.
“Giving to the poor and being with the poor”, Francis had inspired many, she said.
“The Church is alive,” she said. “It was great being here.”
Italian and Vatican authorities mounted a major security operation for the ceremony, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city state.
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Red-robed cardinals and purple-hatted bishops sat on one side of the altar in St Peter’s Square during the funeral, with world dignitaries sitting opposite.
In front of the altar lay the pope’s simple cypress coffin, inlaid with a pale cross.
– ‘Bridges not walls’ –
The funeral sets off the first of nine days of official Vatican mourning for Francis, who took over following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
After the mourning, cardinals aged under 80 will gather for the conclave to elect a new pope from among their number.
Many of Francis’s reforms angered traditionalists, while his criticism of injustices, from the treatment of migrants to the damage wrought by global warming, riled many world leaders.
Yet the former archbishop of Buenos Aires’s compassion and charisma earned him global affection and respect.
“His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless,” Battista Re said.
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He recalled the first trip of Francis’s papacy to Lampedusa, an Italian island that is often the first port of call for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, as well as when the Argentine celebrated mass on the border between Mexico and the US.
Trump’s administration drew the pontiff’s ire for its mass deportation of migrants, but the president has paid tribute to “a good man” who “loved the world”.
Making the first foreign trip of his second term, Trump sat among dozens of leaders from other countries — many of them keen to bend his ear over a trade war he unleashed, among other subjects.
The White House said Saturday that the president had a “very productive” meeting with Zelensky before the funeral.
Kyiv published a photo of the encounter, the two men sitting face to face in red and gold chairs in the basilica, as well as another showing Zelensky huddled with Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In the homily, Battista Re highlighted Francis’s incessant calls for peace, and said he urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world.
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“‘Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” the cardinal said.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden also attended the funeral, alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun.
Israel — angered by Francis’s criticism of its conduct in Gaza — sent only its Holy See ambassador. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send any representative.
– ‘Brought them together’ –
Italian mourner Francesco Morello, 58, said the homily about peace was a “fitting, strong and beautiful message”.
Of the world leaders gathered, Morello noted: “He could not bring them together in life but he managed in death.”
Francis died of a stroke and heart failure less than a month after he left hospital where he had battled pneumonia for five weeks.
The Church’s 266th pope loved nothing more than being among his flock, taking selfies with the faithful and kissing babies, and made it his mission to visit the peripheries, rather than mainstream centres of Catholicism.
His last public act, the day before his death, was an Easter Sunday blessing of the entire world, ending his papacy as he had begun it — with an appeal to protect the “vulnerable, the marginalised and migrants”.
The Jesuit chose to be named after Saint Francis of Assisi, saying he wanted “a poor Church for the poor”, and living at a Vatican guesthouse rather than the papal palace.
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Catholics around the world held events to watch the proceedings live, including in Buenos Aires, where Francis was born Jorge Bergoglio in the poor neighbourhood of Flores in 1936.
“The pope showed us that there was another way to live the faith,” said Lara Amado, 25, in the Argentine capital.
– Refused to judge –
Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals.
He was considered a radical by some for allowing divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, approving the baptism of transgender believers and blessings for same-sex couples, and refusing to judge gay Catholics.
But he also stuck with some centuries-old dogma, notably holding firm on the Church’s opposition to abortion.
Francis strove for “a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart”, Battista Re said.
“A Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds”.
AFP
News
JUST IN: Tinubu Decorates New Service Chiefs

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday decorated the new service chiefs with their respective ranks at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The ceremony, which began shortly after 2pm saw the President perform the decoration alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima and the spouses of the decorated officers, each dressed in their respective service uniforms.
Those decorated were General Olufemi Oluyede as the Chief of Defence Staff; Lieutenant-General Wahidi Shaibu as Chief of Army Staff; Air Marshal Kennedy Aneke as Chief of Air Staff; and Vice Admiral Idi Abbas and Chief of Naval Staff.
The Senate had, on Wednesday, confirmed the four nominees after a two-hour closed-door screening session where they were grilled on strategies to strengthen national security and improve coordination among the armed forces.
Tinubu had earlier written the red chamber, seeking an expedited confirmation process “to ensure continuity in the nation’s security leadership.”
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It was observed that the ceremony was attended by senior government officials, lawmakers family members of the service chiefs and top officers from the various arms of the military.
The President, Vice President and the officers’ spouses took turns pinning the new ranks on each of the decorated chiefs.
The decoration came barely one week after the Presidency announced a sweeping reshuffle in the military hierarchy.
In the statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, it said the shake-up was part of efforts to inject new direction into the nation’s defence architecture.
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The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General E. A. P. Undiendeye, retained his position.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, later told our correspondent that the changes were not connected to recent rumours of a coup plot, saying, “The President acted within his authority as Commander-in-Chief. Service chiefs can be hired and fired by the President.”
On Monday, Tinubu had met privately with the new service chiefs at the Villa.
They arrived in a black Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van escorted by a green Toyota Land Cruiser, and the session lasted about 40 minutes.
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Presidency sources said the President charged them to take decisive action against insurgents and bandits, particularly in the North.
Last Friday’s reshuffle followed an October 19 report alleging that some officers were plotting to overthrow the government — a claim later dismissed by the Defence Headquarters as “false and mischievous.”
The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Tukur Gusau, said the alleged arrests linked to a coup were “issues of indiscipline” within the ranks, describing the report as “intended to cause unnecessary tension and distrust among the populace.”
News
JUST IN: Eurozone Growth Beats Expectations In Third Quarter

The eurozone economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter of 2025, official data showed Thursday.
The EU’s data agency said the 20-country single currency area recorded growth of 0.2 per cent over the July-September period from the previous quarter.
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The figure was higher than the 0.1 per cent forecast by analysts for Bloomberg and FactSet.
More details later…
News
PHOTOS: Police Inspector, Others Die In Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Multiple-truck Crash

At least four persons were feared dead while several others sustained injuries in a multiple-vehicle crash involving five articulated trucks on Kara Bridge, inward Mowe, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Thursday.
A police inspector attached to the Lagos State Police Command was said to be among the victims.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, who confirmed the incident on Thursday during a visit to the scene, said emergency response teams worked through the early hours to rescue victims and clear the wreckage.
“We have a case of multiple accidents at the border between Ogun and Lagos State. Five vehicles were involved, all articulated vehicles. Precisely, three people have been rescued from the scene of the accident.
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“As early as 5 a.m., we have been on it, and we have other agencies here assisting us. We have LASTMA, the Road Safety Corps, and other security agencies,” Ishola said.
He explained that preliminary investigations showed the crash was caused by a trailer that suffered brake failure.
“At the beginning, we have a trailer that failed to brake, and it is important that everybody in charge of their vehicle ensures proper maintenance,” he stated.
The commissioner also confirmed the death of one of his officers who was part of the police advance team deployed to the scene.

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“It’s very unfortunate that we lost one of our police inspectors who came with our advance team to salvage the situation,” he said.
Ishola cautioned motorists, particularly drivers of articulated vehicles, against reckless driving, which he described as a leading cause of fatal crashes on highways.

“We want road users, especially those driving articulated vehicles, to stop this kind of recklessness. If they are not reckless in their driving habit, we won’t have this kind of accident,” he warned.

Rescue operations involving the police, Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, and other agencies were still ongoing as of press time, while efforts to remove the damaged vehicles and restore traffic flow continued.
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