Late Pontiff interned in Santa Maria Maggiore, as coffin welcomed by the poor and transgendered (Vatican Press Office)

In accord with his wishes, the late Pope Francis was interned in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maggiore on April 26 (booklet), following the funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

A “group of poor and marginalized people” welcomed the Pontiff’s coffin on the steps of the basilica, according to Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. The group included “poor people, homeless, prisoners, migrants and transgender individuals.”

Vatican News reported that “the idea for this final encounter came from an exchange” between Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, and Auxiliary Bishop Benoni Ambăruş of Rome, in order to “strengthen the presence of the poor at the funeral or in some other meaningful way.”