Why Pope Francis's signet ring must be destroyed with a silver hammer

Pope Francis was buried at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome following a funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square, marking the end of his papacy with the destruction of his signet ring, the Ring of the Fisherman. This ring, historically used as a seal for papal correspondence, is destroyed after a pope’s death to prevent fraud. Francis’s ring, a repurposed piece belonging to Archbishop Pasquale Macchi, symbolizes Saint Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, connecting to early Christian symbolism of the fish and the notion of being “fishers of people.”

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