ROME — On Wednesday, the Vatican made public new rules to simplify papal funerals, reflecting Pope Francis’ yearslong commitment to shedding some of the church’s old rituals and papal pageantry.

The changes, which include reducing the number of coffins in which the pope’s body is laid to one from three and allowing the pope to be buried in a church other than St. Peter’s Basilica, are another testament to Francis’ longtime embrace of a more down-to-earth, informal style that has become a trademark of his papacy.

The new ritual “also needed to emphasize even more that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ,” Monsignor Diego Ravelli, the Vatican’s master of pontifical liturgical ceremonies, said in a statement. “And not of a powerful person of this world.”

From the beginning of his papacy, Francis has made a point of using symbols to break from the formality and pomp that has long marked the Catholic Church.

— The New York Times