pope francis visited the cemetery on all soul's day, thursday, 2 november 2017, in a brief papal visit to the area for the commemoration, where he toured the cemetery grounds and placed flowers on some grave headstones, including an unknown soldier, and italian-american soldier, and a jewish soldier. afterwards, in purple, as is custom for the day, he celebrated mass and preached a homily at the cemetery. following the visit there, he moved on to the site of the ardeatine massacre, named for the forested area in which it took place.