Papal tombs, from the Vatican Grottoes to the basilicas of Rome

Ask where the popes are buried and the short answer is under your feet as you walk into St Peter’s. The Fabbrica di San Pietro reckons about 91 lie between the basilica and the Vatican Grottoes, starting with Peter himself beneath the high altar. The longer answer is the more interesting one, to my mind, because the most recent pope to die isn’t there, John Paul II has moved, and a couple of Rome’s basilicas hold more popes than you’d guess.

Where are the popes buried?

In three places, mainly. The first by a distance is the Vatican itself, split over two levels, the nave of the basilica and the Grottoes underneath. The second is Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline, which says on its own website that eight popes are buried there. The third is St John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral, with Leo XIII above the sacristy door and Martin V in front of the high altar.

Those last two share something worth knowing. They’ve belonged to the Holy See since the Lateran Treaty and carry the immunities of a diplomatic mission, yet they remain Italian soil. The reasoning is in the difference between the Holy See and the Vatican. It’s why Francis rests on Italian soil in Rome, despite lying in a papal basilica.

The Grottoes, where most of them rest

The Grottoes started life as vaults raised in 1590-1591 to hold up the floor of the new basilica, and over the centuries their central space became a sort of lower church with three aisles around Peter’s grave. That’s how the basilica’s own website puts it today. An older version of the Vatican’s website listed among the papal tombs down there those of Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul I, and Pius XII has had his own oratory since 1958.

The tomb most people come looking for is Benedict XVI’s, buried here on 5 January 2023. Vatican News reports that he went into a triple coffin of cypress, zinc and oak, and that his name is carved on a white marble slab. You can go down free of charge between 09:00 and 18:00, though guided tours and photos aren’t allowed, and the practical detail is all in my guide to the Vatican Grottoes.

Plenty of guidebooks place other twentieth-century popes here or in the nave, John XXIII or Pius X for instance. I haven’t found a current official source that says where each of them is, so I won’t pin them down for you. I’d rather tell you that than sketch a plan I can’t check.

John Paul II moved upstairs in 2011

This is where people most often get it wrong, and fair enough, because for six years he really was in the Grottoes. John Paul II died on 2 April 2005 and was buried downstairs, in the tomb Benedict XVI now occupies. In 2011, right after his beatification, his remains were moved up to the Chapel of St Sebastian, inside the nave.

For a visitor that changes the order of things. His tomb comes with free entry to St Peter’s Basilica, no stairs involved, while his successor’s is one floor down. I’d see them in that order, upstairs first and then below, because the Grottoes have their own exits to the street and finish the visit without doubling back.

Francis and the other seven at Santa Maria Maggiore

Francis is the exception everyone asks about. Since 26 April 2025 he has rested in Santa Maria Maggiore, beside the Pauline Chapel, in a strikingly plain tomb that’s little more than a slab with his name. The reason for the choice lies in that chapel, home of the Salus Populi Romani, the Marian icon he prayed before each time he set off on a journey and each time he came home.

He isn’t alone. The basilica counts eight popes buried there, and Turismo Roma gives their names, Honorius III, Nicholas IV, Pius V, Sixtus V, Clement VIII, Paul V, Clement IX and Francis. The monuments to Sixtus V and Pius V flank the basilica’s own Sistine Chapel, which shares nothing with the Vatican’s except the name of the pope who had it built. There’s much more in my guide to Santa Maria Maggiore.

The Lateran, and what I’ve left out

St John Lateran holds Leo XIII, the pope of Rerum Novarum, who asked to be buried there. His tomb sits above the door leading to the sacristy. In front of the high altar lies Martin V, the pope who, according to the basilica, made walking through the Holy Door the defining act of every Jubilee.

Other popes are scattered across Roman churches that aren’t papal basilicas, but I found no official source to place them and I’d rather not hand you half a route. If what you’re after is who each pope was and in what order, it’s all in the list of popes.

Seeing several papal tombs in one day

My plan would be simple. In the morning, the nave of St Peter’s with John Paul II’s chapel, then the Grottoes on the way out. If you’re still curious and booked well ahead, the Vatican necropolis tour takes you down to the grave of the first of them all, though that’s a separate, guided and paid visit.

I’d save Santa Maria Maggiore for a day when you’re around the Esquiline anyway, because crossing Rome just to see one slab isn’t worth it unless you’re going to take in the whole basilica. And if it’s what lies underground that appeals, have a look at the Vatican catacombs question, which sorts out what is and isn’t beneath St Peter’s.