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Vatican News tells the story of Pope Francis‘ tomb:

Pope Francis’ tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major has been made with marbles from Liguria, a coastal region in North-Western Italy with Genoa as capital and bordered by the French Riviera. It is a simple tomb bearing only the inscription “Franciscus” and a reproduction of the late Pope’s pectoral cross.

The tomb is located near the Altar of St Francis in the Pope’s favorite Church in Rome. Speaking on television, the co-Archpriest of the Basilica, Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, announced Pope Francis’ desire to be buried in a tomb made from the “stone of Liguria, the land of his grandparents.”

His great grandfather, Vincenzo Sivori, emigrated from Italy to Argentina in the 1800s. There, he raised his family, including his grandaughter Regina Maria Sivori: Pope Francis‘ mother.

Pope Francis often kept his connection to Liguria private, so the Mayor of the town of Cogorno, Enrica Sommariva, described her surprise when she heard that the Pope had requested stone from his grandparents‘ region for his tomb. It is precisely in the small town of Cogorno that a plaque of marble – a fine-grained gray, green or bluish metamorphic rock – commemorates Francis’ great grandfather, Vincenzo Sivori.

Angela Sivori, who still lives there, recounted the moment in which she found out she was Pope Francis‘ cousin. She described receiving a phone call from Buenos Aires, and a genealogy tree via email. She and her daughter, Cristina, said the Pope‘s request regarding the stone for the tomb was a wonderful gift to the family, “one last surprise“, Cristina said.

She recalls that at the time her mother was 87 and that they had no idea they would be meeting Pope Francis until the very last minute. “Then, three days before, we got a call from the Vatican. Seven of us got together and he welcomed us like a cousin who had come from the ‘end of the world.’” During the meeting, Pope Francis shook his cousins‘ hands, smiled, and exclaimed, “At last, I meet the Sivoris!”

Franca Garbarino, the President of the Stone District, which includes 18 quarries and 12 companies in the Ligurian hills, described it as “not a noble stone” but rather as “the people’s stone”, and one that “gives warmth.”

Source: Vatican News

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