About 250,000 mourners in Vatican City fell into hushed silence on Saturday morning as the funeral for Pope Francis began. The church choir echoed through loudspeakers across the city-state. Some bowed their heads in respect.

Francis, who took his name after Saint Francis of Assisi, was known for his outreach to the poor and those in poverty and that will be reflected in his minimalist burial at Saint Mary Major. He is the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century and the first to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore in more than 300 years.