More than 20,000 people went to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome yesterday morning to visit the tomb of Pope Francis.

As of 07:00 local time, around 20,000 people had approached the temple, 13,000 of whom had entered by noon local time, according to local authorities quoted by Notícias ao Minuto

The Basilica of St. Mary Major opened to the public for the first time yesterday after Francis was buried in a private ceremony on Saturday, following the exequial mass in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

The tomb consists, as the Pontiff requested in his will, of a simple stone headstone from Liguria, the land of his Italian ancestors, with the inscription "Franciscus" (Francis, in Latin).

It should be noted that Pope Francis died last Monday at the age of 88, after 12 years as pontiff.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, Francis was the first Jesuit and the first Latin American to rise to the leadership of the Catholic Church.