On the second day of the departure of the Emeritus Pope, a long line of people formed in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican. Up to 70,000 people are expected at the funeral service on Thursday.
Also on the second day of Benedict XVI’s farewell. A long line of people formed outside the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Tuesday to pay their last respects to the former head of the Catholic Church. Many pilgrims came from different parts of Italy and different countries. The retired Pope is in bed until Wednesday. The ex-pope’s farewell is accompanied by a large presence of security.
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was among the first visitors on Tuesday morning. The politician was received by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of Benedict XVI. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also bid farewell to the pope emeritus on Tuesday. Orbán, who prayed in front of the body of Benedict XVI and exchanged a few words with Gänswein, will attend Thursday’s funeral along with Hungarian President Katalin Novak, the Vatican said.
Australian Cardinal George Pell took over on Tuesday from Benedict XVI. Taking leave. The 81-year-old man prayed in front of the body. Cardinal Pell headed the Vatican’s economic secretariat from 2014 to 2017 before facing legal action in his native Australia over allegations of abuse. In 2020, he was finally acquitted and released from prison. Pell’s efforts to bring more transparency and cleanliness to Vatican finances repeatedly brought him into conflict with the old structures and habits of those in charge at the Vatican during his tenure as the Vatican’s “Minister of the Treasury”.
65,000 visitors on the first day
Benedict XVI died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95. On New Year’s Day, the deceased was laid for the first time in the chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican before the body was taken to St. Peter’s Basilica in a private ceremony on Monday morning. There, the corpse, dressed in a red and gold tunic and a miter with gold edges, was placed on a catafalque in front of the high altar, with Swiss guards standing guard over it.
On the first day of the project, the Vatican recorded 65,000 visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica. The funeral, for which more than 70,000 faithful are expected, will be celebrated by Pope Francis.
Fischer instead of Van der Bellen
Austria is represented by former Federal President Heinz Fischer. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen has asked Fischer to attend the funeral ceremonies in Rome, the President’s Office said on Tuesday on request. Fischer was during the tenure of Pope Benedict XVI. Federal President and was also in his possession and on an official visit to the Vatican. Benedict’s official papal visit in 2007 also fell during Fischer’s tenure. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Salzburg, Franz Lackner, as President of the Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl of Graz will attend the funeral as representatives of the Church in Austria.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder come from Germany to bid farewell to the German Pope. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda are also expected, as well as a delegation from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In an interview with the Milan daily “Corriere della Sera” (Tuesday edition), Schönborn explained that Joseph Ratzinger was a “doctor of the Church, a father of the Church” who could be compared to St. Augustine. “I had the joy of being his student along with many others, and he was not only a highly talented teacher with the gift of clarity, but a true master, both in written texts and in the living word. I have learned so much from him, and I think his ability to teach, to transmit the faith and to reflect on the faith almost makes him a father of the Church”, says Schönborn.
Unprecedented mourning ceremony
Benedict XVI’s funeral is considered unprecedented in Church history. For the first time, a pope celebrates the mourning ceremony for a predecessor. Protocol experts are still working on the rite’s liturgy, and Francis will have the final say.
The liturgy with which Pope Francis celebrated the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI. will celebrate will be more or less the same as that of a pontiff, but with some modifications. This was said by spokesman for the Pope Matteo Bruni at a meeting with journalists ahead of the Pope Emeritus’ funeral on Tuesday.
“The basis of the liturgy for papal burials is preserved. However, there are some elements that give originality to the rite. Aspects more related to the pope in office are missing, such as the last supplications, the supplications of the diocese of Rome and the Eastern Churches, which are very specific to the pope in office,” explained Bruni.
Joseph Ratzinger’s coffin will be closed in St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday night. On Thursday, at 8:50 am, the coffin leaves the Cathedral and is taken to St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful present can pray the rosary. Then the liturgical funeral service begins, which lasts about two hours. Pope Francis will celebrate the funeral mass. At the altar will be the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, as the pope has difficulty walking.
The Pope Emeritus, who died on Saturday, will be buried immediately after the funeral ceremony. In his coffin are deposited the coins and medals minted during his pontificate, as well as the palliums, that is, the liturgical vestments he wore during his ecclesiastical career. In addition, a written text describing the pontificate, contained in a metal cylinder, will also be placed in the coffin.
There is no nine-day mourning period
Unlike the funeral of a sitting pope, the nine-day period of mourning, which bears the Latin name “Novemdiales”, is omitted at Benedict’s funeral. Normally, after the death of a pope, cardinals must also elect his successor. That does not apply to the case of Benedict XVI, who on February 11, 2013, became the first pope in more than six centuries to resign, making room for his successor, Francis. It remains unclear whether the traditional white silk cloth is placed over the deceased’s face when closing the coffin, as is customary at papal funerals.
According to Vatican rules, a pope must be buried four to six days after his death. The retired pope wanted a burial in the former tomb of his predecessor, John Paul II, in St. Peter’s Basilica. After John Paul II’s beatification in 2011, his body was reburied in a chapel in the aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica.
(APA)