Pope Francis, who visited more than 60 countries during his papacy, will make his final journey along the road from Vatican City to the Esquiline, one of the seven hills of Rome, where he wanted to be buried in a last break from tradition.

The Vatican said the funeral will be held on Saturday in St.

Peter's Square, in front of the Basilica of St. Peter, where most of his predecessors rest.

But his chosen resting place is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), one of the main four churches of Christendom in Rome.

In his final testament, Pope Francis asked to be buried "in the earth, simple, without particular decoration" and with the inscription only of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.

The last pope to be buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII, who died in 1903.

St. Mary Major, around 4 km (2.5 miles) from the Vatican, was dear to Francis because of his devotion to Mary. He prayed there before setting off on and returning from each overseas trip.

"I've always had a great devotion to St. Mary Major, even before I became pope," Francis said in his 2024 book "El Sucesor" (The Successor), a long interview with journalist Javier Martinez-Brocal.

Pope Francis prayed in the basilica early on March 14, 2013, the day after he became the first Latin American pope. The church's gold-leaf ceiling is said to have been made from a batch of the precious metal brought back from the New World by explorer Christopher Columbus.

Francis returned at key moments in his papacy, praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic in a locked-down Rome in 2020 and after his abdominal surgeries in 2021 and 2023.

A venerated Byzantine icon of Mary is housed in the Pauline chapel in the left nave of the basilica. A vase of golden roses, donated by Francis in 2023, sits among candlesticks under the icon.

Before reaching the chapel entrance, there is a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, commissioned by Pope Benedict XV in 1918 to ask God to end World War One. In May 2022, Francis led an international prayer service for peace in Ukraine and other war-torn places.

Pope Francis died of a stroke followed by a coma and heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said in his death certificate. His funeral will be held on Saturday at 10 am (0800GMT) in St. Peter's Basilica.

Francis was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936 to Italian immigrant parents. He studied in Argentina and later in Germany before being ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969.

Over a decade into his papacy, Pope Francis remained a figure of admiration and controversy.