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 had already made an unexpected decision about his burial place before his death.His Holiness, who passed away at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, April 21, will be buried at a basilica instead of Vatican.