Pope Francis' will details burial request after pontiff's death caused by stroke: Vatican officials

"Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in the Eternal Life, I wish to express my testamentary will only with regard to the place of my Burial," the document begins.

Written in June 2022, the will details the pope's burial preferences, which differ from pontiffs from the past few centuries.

Francis said that he wanted his "last earthly journey to end in this ancient sanctuary."

The will also asks for Francis to be buried in the earth, "without particular decorum and with the only inscription: Franciscus."

"I ask that my tomb be prepared in the hole of the aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica as Indicated in the attached annex," it reads. 

He also stated that burial expenses should be covered with the sum of the benefactor whom Francis arranged with.

"I have arranged, to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and of which I have provided to give Appropriate instructions to Mons. Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Chapter Liberian," his will reads. 

Francis, 88, died Monday morning at the Vatican. Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, the head of the Vatican's health department, said that the stroke put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure, according to an afternoon update from Vatican officials.

"I certify that His Holiness Francesco (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on December 17, 1936, Resident in Vatican City, Vatican Citizen, died at 7.35 am on April 21, 2025, in his apartment at the Domus Santa Marta (Vatican City) of: Brain stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiocollaspe," the report read.

Arcangeli added that Francis also suffered from episodes of "respiratory insufficiency," as well as his recent bilateral pneumonia. Officials said the pope also suffered from type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

He was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013, and was the first Jesuit to become pope.

The pope's last public appearance was on Easter Sunday at St. Peter's Square.

Fox News' Thomas Ferraro, Alec Schemmel, and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.