With St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, it is one of four basilicas in Rome granted special status by the pope. In his will, he wrote that he had visited the Marian basilica at the beginning and the end of every apostolic trip he took during his 12-year papacy.

Pope Francis is not the only Pope to be buried in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. But he would be the first Pope in 350 years to be buried there