Persian carpets honour late Pope

At Pope Francis's funeral on April 25th, 2025, the late Pope’s casket was placed on a Persian carpet. For six hundred years, Persian carpets have been used in the Catholic Church to signify that a space is holy ground.

Carpets imported from Iran, Egypt, the Levant, and Anatolia used to be the most expensive carpets to buy, which is why the Catholic Church used them to honour sacred spaces. These carpets can be seen in religious paintings. For instance, in The Marriage of the Virgin painted by Niccolò di Buonaccorso in 1830, a carpet featuring animals marks the sacred space where Joseph and Mary stand.

In the 16th century, the finest Persian carpets were used as diplomatic gifts. This tradition continues in modern times. In 2016, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met Pope Francis at the Vatican and gave the Pope a small woven carpet as a gift.

Three Persian carpets featured in the locations of Pope Francis' funeral in St Peter's Basilica, St Peter’s Square and an intimate private chapel. The carpets signified that the Pope's casket was in a sanctified space.

Though the Pope’s funeral dispensed with many of the ceremonial trappings of other Papal funerals, the tradition of using Persian carpets to place the casket on was maintained out of respect.

Genuine Persian carpets are expensive, but you can get modern carpets with patterns based on traditional designs for a more reasonable cost from a local carpet retailer in the North Wales and Chester area.