This was the second time in history that a pope celebrated his predecessor’s funeral rite.
Jan 5, 2023 7:31 am
(updated at 07:45)
Benedict XVI died on December 31st at the age of 95.
Photo: EPA / Ansa Brazil
After three days of public wake is the Pope Francis celebrated the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on December 31 at the age of 95, on a crowded St. Peter’s Square and under a cloudy sky this Thursday (5).
The ceremony brought together 50,000 believers, according to reports Vatican Gendarmerieand dozens of political and religious authorities, such as Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and representatives of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Islam, and Judaism.
“We are here with the scent of gratitude and the ointment of hope to demonstrate once again the love that is not lost. We want to do this with the same anointing, wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he was able to bestow on the Lord for years,” Francis said in his homily.
“Benedict, may your joy be complete at hearing your voice finally and forever,” said the Pope, asking that Joseph Ratzinger be “put into the hands of the Father.”
“May these hands of mercy see his lamp burning with the oil of the gospel he spread and witnessed to throughout his life,” he added.
This was only the second time in history that a pope performed the funeral rite for his predecessor. The other was in 1802 when Pius VII presided over the religious funeral of Pius VIwho had died two and a half years earlier in exile as a prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Loyal flags from Germany, the country of origin, were hoisted in the midst of the crowd Ratzingerand posters with thanks to Benedict XVI. or with the request for his canonization.
After the last “Amen” from Francis, the crowd sang “Santo subito” (“Holy Now”). “He was the pontiff who got me reconnected to the Church before I started seeing things from a greater distance. He regained tradition and was a man open to all possibilities,” said Italian Marco, who traveled to Rome for Novara’s funeral.
Before the end of the ceremony, Jorge Bergoglio stopped for a silent prayer in front of the coffin being brought to the coffin St. Peter’s Basilica to the applause of the faithful.
The funeral brought together 130 cardinals, 300 bishops and 3,700 priests from around the world who arrived at the Vatican in recent days.
In the first row, to the right of the coffin (on which lay an open Gospel), was the Archbishop George GansweinBenedict XVI’s private secretary during his pontificate and after his resignation, and the memores, ordained lay women, who ministered to Ratzinger.
The body of Benedict XVI. was locked in the urn with coins and medals minted during his pontificate and with the palliums (white woolen collars worn by popes and archbishops) he wore in his liturgical vestments.
The bier was made with a triple covering, the first of cypress, the second of zinc, and the third of oak, and will be buried in the crypts of the St. Peter’s Basilicain the former tomb of Saint John Paul II, whose body was brought to the top of the temple after his beatification in 2011.
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