OSSERVATORE ROMANO v AFP
The cardinals in front of the tomb of John Paul II in 2007.
RELIGION – Tradition is respected. Like all popes who died before him, Benedict XVI. after his burial buried in one of the crypts under St. Peter’s Basilica. More specifically, he will be buried where John Paul II’s coffin stood before his beatification, the Vatican spokesman said on Monday, January 2.
Despite his resignation in 2013 after eight years at the head of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI. therefore treated like its predecessors and will join the Vatican Caves where the papal tombs are located.
Vatican spokesman confirms that #PopeBenedictXVI. buried in the Vatican Grotto where Saint John Paul II lay before his birth… https://t.co/4WuGTkwN6T
— Cindy Wood (@Cindy_Wooden)
The official biographer of Benedict XVI, the German journalist Peter Seewald, revealed in 2020 that Benedict XVI. wanted to be buried precisely in the tomb of John Paul II in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This tomb has been empty since the coffin of John Paul II was moved to a side chapel on the occasion of his beatification in 2011.
The believers come to gather in droves
This Monday, thousands of worshipers began meditating under the basilica’s gold to meditate in front of the remains of the Pope Emeritus, who died on Saturday at the age of 95. A long queue has been snaking around St. Peter’s Square, surrounded by Bernini’s colonnades, since daybreak.
The mortal remains of Joseph Ratzinger rest on a fabric-covered catafalque, flanked by two Swiss Guards in festive costume, in front of the basilica’s main altar, which is dominated by a bronze canopy with twisted colonnades. The late pope is dressed in red (the color of papal mourning) and wears a white miter adorned with a gold braid, holding a rosary in his hands.
A large candle is burning with many candles in the background. Several cardinals and members of the Curia are present, including the private secretary of the Pope Emeritus, Bishop Georg Gänswein, who accepts handshakes as a sign of sympathy. The doors of the huge basilica will close at 7pm and then reopen on Tuesday and Wednesday from 7am to 7pm.
The end of an unusual coexistence of two popes
A masterpiece of architecture that combines Renaissance and Baroque styles and was completed in 1626, St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the holiest places in Christianity as it houses the burial place of the Apostle Peter, disciple of Christ and first bishop of Rome, the Popes are the successors.
Brilliant theologian and ardent dogma guardian Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 due to failing strength, died peacefully on Saturday morning at the monastery he has lived in since, located in the heart of the Vatican Gardens.
His body was transferred to the basilica early Monday, where a blessing ritual was held in the former pope’s closest entourage. Pope Francis will preside over his predecessor’s funeral on Thursday, an unprecedented event in the two-thousand-year history of the Catholic Church that will put an end to the unusual coexistence of the two men in white.
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