World bids farewell to Pope with massive funeral

VATICAN CITY, Apr 26 (Reuters): Presidents, royalty and simple mourners bade farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday at a solemn funeral ceremony, where a cardinal appealed for the pontiff's legacy of caring for migrants, the downtrodden and the environment to be kept alive. Pope Francis was buried inside his favourite Rome church after the funeral mass in St Peter's Square, the Vatican said on Saturday.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was laid to rest during a 30-minute ceremony which started at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in the Italian capital.
US President Donald Trump, who had clashed with the pope on those issues, sat with the rows of foreign dignitaries on one side of Francis' coffin in the vast St. Peter's Square.
On the other side sat cardinals who will pick The Vatican estimated more than 250,000 people attended the ceremony, cramming the square and the roads around.
The burial itself was being conducted in strict privacy. The popemobile left the Vatican from the Perugino Gate, a side entrance just yards away from the Santa Marta guesthouse where Francis had chosen to live, instead of the ornate Renaissance apartments in the papal palace.