Thousands of people arrived in St. Peter’s Square after dark, where the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took place on Thursday, led by the current Pope Francis. The public part of the funeral was over, and the Pope’s remains were placed in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica. About 70,000 people, including delegations from abroad, are expected to participate. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala was represented by Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Yureka and former President Vaclav Klaus.
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Funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI | Source: Reuters
Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, when he stepped down for health reasons. He became the first pope in nearly 600 years to do so.
Although Benedict did not die during his pontificate, Thursday’s funeral is in many ways similar to the funerals of the heads of the Catholic Church. A simple cedar coffin was placed in front of the altar, carried from St. Peter’s Basilica shortly before the ceremony with the sound of the bells. Pope Francis came to him in a wheelchair, and seated the funeral service.
“Benedict, faithful friend of the groom, may your joy be complete when you hear his voice once and for all,” said Frantischek, according to the DPA. In the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ is referred to as the Bridegroom.
During the mass, which was attended by 125 cardinals, 200 bishops and about 3,700 priests, Francis also spoke of Pope Benedict’s “wisdom, love and devotion over the years”.
After Mass, twelve men carried the coffin to St. Peter’s Basilica. Even before that, Pope Francis had said goodbye symbolically to Benedict by placing his hand on the wooden coffin. Then he went into the temple to the applause of the faithful.
Thank you, Benedict.
The ceremony was held under the open sky, the sun was slowly breaking through the mist, and some of those present had umbrellas over their heads. Among the tens of thousands who attended the funeral were clerics from around the world, as well as many heads of state and kings.
The Czech Republic was represented by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, and Labor Minister Marian Yureka and former President Vaclav Klaus attended.
I had a lot of respect for Pope Benedict XVI. I am honored to have the opportunity to represent the Czech Republic at the funeral service in St. Peter’s Square and to say goodbye to him personally. May he rest in peace,” advertiser In a statement sent to the media. Deputy Prime Minister Urešek described Benedict’s farewell as “extraordinary”.
According to data from Italian authorities cited by the Associated Press, up to 100,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, which is more than initial estimates. About 1,000 police officers oversee the organized course of events today.
Even before the Mass, a document summarizing Benedict’s life was placed at the late Pope’s coffin. Among other things, it states: “He resolutely fought offenses committed by the clergy against minors or weak persons and repeatedly called the Church for reform, prayer, repentance and purification.”
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During Benedict’s papacy, the public was rocked by several scandals regarding sexual abuse in the Church. Benedict took measures to protect children and was the first pope to publicly condemn these crimes, but he did not change anything about the structures that facilitated abuse in the Catholic Church, Dibba said.
The Vatican said after the mass that about 50,000 people watched the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square. It is much lower compared to the funeral of Pope John Paul II, which was attended by 300,000 people at the same venue in 2005.
A large portion of the mourners on Thursday came from Benedict’s home country of Germany, including President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder.
Some German worshipers held a large banner reading “Thank you, Benedict!” “We will no longer have a German pope,” Benedict Rottweiler, 34, a German from Aachen, told AFP he was very moved.
An invitation to sanctification
During the ceremony, a mourner in the field unfurled a handwritten banner with the words “Holy Now” (Santo Subito). She called for the Pope Emeritus canonization with the same slogan chanted collectively by the faithful in 2005 at the funeral of John Paul II.
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The funeral mass, which was celebrated in Latin except for some passages, ended before eleven o’clock. The Vatican later announced that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s coffin had been placed in a tomb in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica.
According to his wishes, he will be buried in the same tomb as Pope John Paul II, but his remains were removed from the crypt in 2011 for beatification.
Over the past three days, when Benedict’s body was on display in St. Peter’s Basilica, 200,000 people came to see off the Pope Emeritus.
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