What does the white rose mean about Pope Francis’ tomb?

About the tomb of In Basilia Santa Maria Maggiore (Santa Maria Maior), in Rome, a white rose rests. The flower was also present in the pontiff’s funeral rituals, when a group consisting of migrants, trans people, homeless people and prisoners welcomed the Pope’s body in the church. What many faithful do not know is that the white rose is a symbol present in the Pope’s life since Jorge Mario Bergoglio was still archbishop in Buenos Aires. According to the news agency the “Vatican News”, the rose represents Francis’ devotion with the Santa Teresa of Lisieux, known as “Santa Teresinha of the Child Jesus.”

Whenever he was in trouble, the Pope asked for the intercession of St. Teresinha, so that he would come to his aid or other people in need. And he believed that, somehow, he always ended up receiving a white rose as a gift, which, for him, was the sign of the grace granted by the saint. In an interview with journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti for the book “El Jesuita”, Pope Francis spoke about his relationship with Santa Teresinha.

“When I have a problem, I ask the saint, not to solve it, but to take it in your hands and help me accept it, and as a sign I almost always get a white rose,” he said before becoming Pope. At the time, journalists saw a vase of white roses on a shelf in front of a photo of Santa Teresinha, in the library of the then archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Before he died, days after his last hospitalization, the Pope received a white rose again. At the time, the flower even came from the city of Lisieux, France, where the saint lived. At the beginning of his pontificate, Francisco also won a white rose as a gift from a Vatican gardener after making a vigil for Syria. As a habit, the Pope kept a white rose on the table of his porch at Santa Marta House.