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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 35861, member: 636"] President Ruto arrived in Rome for Pope Francis' funeral. He joins many world leaders among the expected 250,000 mourners at the service. The Pope died Easter Monday from stroke complications that caused heart failure. Francis, breaking tradition, requested burial in a simple wooden coffin with a zinc lining. He also asked to rest at Santa Maria Maggiore church instead of St Peter's Basilica crypt, where popes normally go. The Argentine-born church leader made history as the first pope from the Americas when elected in 2013. Francis came from Italian parents who fled fascism. He took office in his seventies, becoming the first Jesuit pope. He balanced conservative views on sexual matters with liberal ideas about social justice. Throughout his leadership, he chose simplicity over luxury, refusing the papal limousine for regular buses. [/QUOTE]