AMONG them was Rosario Correale, an Italian, who said it was "very emotional" seeing the tomb. "He really left a mark on us," he told the Associated Press.

Polish pilgrim Maria Brzezinska felt the resting place befit the man. "I feel like it's exactly in the way of the Pope. He was simple, and so is his place now," she told the news agency Reuters after visiting.

Francis was particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary, and Santa Maria Maggiore was the first church to be dedicated to her when it was built in the 4th Century.

The basilica sits near the Colosseum, a stone's throw from the city's endlessly bustling and chaotic central Termini station - well beyond the limits of the Vatican, where popes are traditionally entombed.

But it was one the South American pontiff had a long-held affinity for.

It's senior priest previously told an Italian newspaper that Pope Francis had said he wished to be laid to rest there in 2022, citing inspiration from the Virgin Mary.

"Out of all of the [churches], he chose this one. So I thought that was really amazing. It's really humbling to be able to be here."

Francis's funeral was attended by heads of state, heads of government and monarchs from around the world - as well as hundreds of thousands of Catholics who lined the streets leading to the Vatican to pay their respects.

Hymns played out on giant speakers, occasionally drowned out by the sound of helicopters flying overhead, before 91-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re gave a homily on the pope's legacy.

The cardinal emphasised that Pope Francis had repeatedly urged the world to "build bridges, not walls".