ROME – Tradition holds that during the anti-Christian persecution of Roman Emperor Valerian in 258, Saint Lawrence, when given three days to round up the church’s riches before being executed, sold the church’s vessels and gave the money to the poor.

When summoned by Valerian to deliver the church’s property, wealth and treasures, Lawrence triumphantly appeared, ushering in the city’s poor, crippled, blind and suffering masses behind him.

As Pope Francis is laid to rest Saturday, in addition to the various heads of state, dignitaries and celebrities scheduled to attend, also present will be those to whom he dedicated the entirety of his priestly, episcopal and Petrine ministry: the poor.

Not only will groups of the poor, homeless, migrants and refugees be present at his funeral Mass in the Vatican, they will also be welcomed to his final burial place, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, by a group of poor and needy people.

Having chose the papal name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi, often called the “Poor Man of Assisi” due to his embrace of poverty and shunning of material wealth, Pope Francis shortly after his election told journalists that he was inspired to take the name when, immediately after the final vote was counted in the 2013 conclave and he knew he’d been elected, a fellow cardinal sitting next to him said, “don’t forget the poor.”

Pope Francis went to great lengths throughout his pontificate to prioritize the poor and those on life’ margins, making his first trip outside of Rome to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a primary destination point for migrants and refugees arriving to Europe, if they survived the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea.

He was known for hosting lunches with the homeless and poor for his birthday celebrations, eating lunch with them inside of the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, and inviting them inside of the Vatican Museums, or sending them on beach holidays with the help of his almoner, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski.

Francis gave Krajewski a red hat in 2018, indicating just how high of a priority charitable outreach to the poor was for him. He also repeatedly sent Krajewski on humanitarian missions to Ukraine after the outbreak of war in 2022, delivering ambulances filled with food and medical supplies.

In 2016, after making a last-minute daytrip to the Greek Island of Lesbos, a trip made solely to visit refugees stuck on the island, he took 12 Muslim refugees back with him, including six children. He visited the island again, and its largest refugee camp, in 2021.

He also consistently advocated for the safe and secure passage of refugees from camps into Italy through humanitarian corridors, ensuring a protected route for those with their paperwork in order and help integrating into their local communities.

The Vatican in an April 24 statement said the poor not only hold a privileged place in the heart of God, but “This is so also in the heart and magisterium of the Holy Father, who chose the name Francis so as never to forget them.”

“For this reason, a group of poor and needy people will be present on the steps that lead to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major to give a final farewell to Pope Francis before the entombment of his coffin,” following his funeral April 26.

Pope Francis’s funeral Mass is scheduled to take place April 26, at 10a.m. local time, and afterwards he will be taken by car to Saint Mary Major, where he will be entombed in the Pauline Chapel, which also houses the famed Marian icon, Maria Salus Populi Romani, or Mary, Health of the Roman People, which was one of his favorite devotions.

Attending his Mass, according to the Community of Sant’Egidio, an ecclesial movement dedicated to social justice that Pope Francis was close to, will be a group of poor, migrants and refugees.

In an April 25 statement, Sant’Egidio said members, including top leadership, would attend the pope’s funeral along with “his people, starting with the poor who knew and loved him during the course of his pontificate.”

These people, they said, include refugees who returned from Lesbos on board the papal plane with him in 2016, as well as refugees from a camp in Cyprus who came to Italy through its humanitarian corridors program in 2021, following his visit to Greece and Cyprus.

Homeless individuals will also attend, including many who found hospitality and welcome at the Palazzo Migliori, which was inaugurated by Pope Francis in 2019 and entrusted to Sant’Egidio.

Sant’Egidio indicated that the group of poor and needy who will welcome Pope Francis’s coffin to Saint Mary Major also belong to their community.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen