From BBC:
Santa Maria Maggiore’s senior priest, the Lithuanian Rolandas Makrickas, said: “In May 2022… I asked [the Pope] if he wasn’t by any chance thinking about being buried in [the basilica], given how often he came.”
Francis smiled and said that Popes are buried in St. Peter’s—”and” that was that,” Makrickas thought. The priest continued: “A week later he called me and said, ‘the Virgin Mary has told me to prepare my tomb.’ Then he simply told me, ‘find a place for it, because I want to be buried in this basilica and you’ve been a bit of a prophet.'” The place Makrickas found is next to the icon of Mary [see above] that the Pope so loved. It is now cordoned off and obscured by plywood.
From Associated Press:
Pope Francis’ doctor found the Pontiff with his eyes open and breathing normally, but unresponsive when he was called to the Vatican early Monday morning, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri coordinated Francis’ five-week hospital treatment for double pneumonia and continued to oversee the Pope’s treatment after the Pontiff returned to the Vatican on March 23 for two months of rest to allow a full recovery. “I went into his room, and he had his eyes open. I noted that he did not have respiratory issues, so I tried to call him but he did not respond,’’ Alfieri was quoted as saying. “He also did not respond to stimuli, even painful ones. In that moment I understood there was nothing more to do. He was in a coma.’’
Alfieri said it was too risky moving Francis back to the Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for a complex respiratory infection that nearly killed him twice. “The Pope wanted to die at home, he always said it while he was at Gemelli,’’ Alfieri said.