Maggiore

He was also a devotee of the Virgin Mary and as such, he chose to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, which sits outside the Vatican walls in the centre of Rome.

After the service, Francis's body — dressed in a red chasuble and a damask and golden papal mitre — will be transported to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for burial.

On his first day as Pope in 2013, Francis left the Vatican to pray in Santa Maria Maggiore.

Nearby, people slowly ambled down Via della Conciliazione – the pedestrian street that connects Italy and the Vatican city state, and the same one the Pope's coffin will travel down on Saturday as he reaches his final place of rest in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Every time Pope Francis came back to Rome after a trip abroad, he made sure to pay a visit to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.