VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' funeral was set to be lower cost, partially on account of the late pontiff’s wishes but also due to the fact that it has fallen in an already costly jubilee year, however, is still set to cost millions, according to il Messaggero.

 Between the security, media coverage, stages, implementation of the protocol, costs of the ceremony, setting up of the giant screens, one can arrive at an estimated minimum cost of around one and a half million euros for the funeral itself, Italian media has been reporting.  

 Among the costs there are also those of the burial. The pontiff in his will had referred to a benefactor, who gave Bergoglio the money for his interment in the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

 There has also been a huge five-million-euro investment from the Italian government for the management from logistics to security, as arriving foreign dignitaries that require round the clock security will be staying in Rome, not Vatican City. This was an expense identical to that which was allocated in 2005 for the funeral of John Paul II, which, given inflation would make this amount even less, as 5 million in 2005 revalued at today's costs, would be around 7 million euros. However, during John Paul II’s funeral twenty years ago over two million people showed up to St. Peter's Square and this time numbers are estimated to be much lower.

 While it was Jesuit Pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio's desire not to have the pomp that, by tradition and ceremony, have characterized previous funerals, the funerals of Benedict XVI and John Paul II were being taken as models to try to predict how many economic resources and people will need to be deployed. Preparations in Rome following Francis’ death, began immediately and there are many closed roads, diverted buses, the metro and "green zones" already in operation for the arrival of Trump.

 A Papal funeral, however, is largely paid for by the church itself, other than additional security costs for foreign dignitaries coming to Rome, which fall to the Italian government. It is far from the sumptuousness of a royal funeral, for example that of Queen Elizabeth II of England. When Elizabeth II’s funeral was held on Sept. 19, 2023 in London, the expenditure of Her Majesty's subjects, British taxpayers, was, according to an account made by the Treasury, equal to 162 million pounds, which amounts to around 186 million euros, which largely paid for security. This was an expense at least thirty times greater than that which is predicted for Bergoglio's funeral.

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