His last wish... to be with his people

Inside his sealed coffin were placed his robes, coins minted during his papacy, as well as a deed summarising his life.

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Popes are usually buried with an expensive new mitre too, but Francis said that would be a waste and that his old one would do just fine.

And unlike his predecessors, who each had three nested coffins — of cypress, lead and elm - Francis chose a simple wooden one.

That change came as part of recently updated funeral planning for pontiffs, which was approved by Francis and also stated that the public would be able to view the pope's body in an open coffin.

"Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life and of universal fatherhood," said a summary of his papacy, written in Latin, and placed next to his body. His journey to his final resting place was the first such procession for a pope in over a century. The last to be buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII in 1903.

Crowds cheered the slow-moving armour-plated Popemobile carrying his coffin nearly four miles through central Rome, across the River Tiber and past the Colosseum.