Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re officiates the mass in front of the coffin of late Pope Francis at the start of the funeral ceremony at St Peter's Square in The Vatican, on April 26, 2025. Andreas Solaro, AFP
VATICAN CITY, Holy See -- Pope Francis was "a pope among the people, with an open heart", who strove for a more compassionate Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said Saturday in his funeral homily.
"He established direct contact with individuals and peoples, eager to be close to everyone, with a marked attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalized, the least among us. He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone," he said.
The late pontiff's efforts to help refugees, migrants and poor people were "countless", Battista Re said.
"His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless," Battista Re said in front of thousands of guests, including US President Donald Trump, with whom Francis had clashed over the treatment of migrants.
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Pope Francis, who famously refused to judge gay or divorced Catholics, believed the Church "is a home for all," Battista Re also said.
He was driven by "the conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open... a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds", he said.
Francis, the Catholic Church's first Latin American leader, urged "reason and honest negotiation" in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world.
"Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions," Battista Re said.
© Agence France-Presse
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