The funeral mass dedicated to His Holiness Pope Francis was also attended by the Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.
Numerous church ceremonies took place in front of approximately 200,000 believers and admirers of the People’s Pope, religious leaders, representatives of royal families, heads of state, prime ministers and state delegations.
Expressing deep sorrow and sincere condolences for his death, President Siljanovska-Davkova, in a telegram to the Vatican, emphasized his impressive and inspiring personality as a perfect harmony of words and deeds. She once again gave him well-deserved recognition for the enormous influence he had as a sworn peacemaker, humanist and people’s tribune, an advocate of interreligious dialogue and reconciliation.
In a sublime setting and a holy mass led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the huge number of attendees with applause and tears sent the beloved Pope to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, his eternal resting place!
Unlike his predecessors who rest in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis left a bequest to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the “five papal basilicas”. There, in 2015, a plaque in Macedonian was placed in honor of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Last year, the President had an audience with Pope Francis, which she assessed as an unforgettable event, due to the wise papal thoughts on the most important world issues, but also his respect for our centuries-old tradition of tolerance of diversity and mature awareness of the important role of religion in the development of social harmony.
Pope Francis is the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit our country. During the historic visit in 2019, he said: “Macedonia is the gateway through which Christianity entered Europe, because the inhabitants of Macedonian soil are the first Europeans to whom the Apostle Paul conveyed the teachings of Christ”.
