Pope Francis greeted the crowd during the weekly general audience at St Peter's Square in The Vatican on Wednesday.

Pope Francis, who has avoided much of the grandeur and privilege associated with leading the global Catholic Church, has chosen a simple wooden casket for his funeral. In a new formal rite published on Wednesday, the Vatican announced that Francis will not follow the centuries-old tradition of burying the late pope in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead, and oak. Instead, Francis will be laid to rest in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin.

The late pope will also not be displayed on a raised platform, or catafalque, in St. Peter's Basilica for public viewing, as was customary with previous popes. Visitors will still be able to pay their respects, but Francis' body will remain inside the casket with the lid open.

Francis, who will turn 88 on December 17, has faced occasional health issues in recent years but has appeared robust in recent months. He now uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain but managed two demanding foreign trips in September and hosted a major, month-long summit of Catholic leaders at the Vatican in October.

The pope expressed his desire last year to streamline the lengthy, elaborate funeral rites used for his predecessors. Francis also announced that he will be the first pope in over a century to be buried outside the Vatican. Instead of being interred with 91 other late popes in St. Peter's Basilica, Francis wishes to be buried at Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. St. Mary's is the church where Francis traditionally prays before and after each of his foreign trips.

The last pope to be buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII, who died in 1903 and is buried in Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran. Traditionally, three caskets were used for burying popes to create an airtight seal around the late pontiff's body, allowing for objects like coins or papers issued by the pope during his reign to be buried with the body.

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