the funeral of Benedict XVI It’s been a weird funeral. Since the beginning of the 19th century, no pope had buried another pope present. Specifically, it had not happened since 1802 when Pius VII received the mortal remains of Pius VIdied in exile.
However, despite the exception, Francis I He has wanted to maintain the same protocol and ritual as if the active leader of the Catholic Church had been buried, except for small forced changes in the liturgy.
In fact, Pope Francis, who has arrived in a wheelchair due to mobility problems, has praised the figure of his predecessor, highlighting “his wisdom, delicacy and dedication” but also his “passionate search” to communicate the Gospel.
Francis I presides over the funeral of Benedict XVI.
His words have been received with joy by the more than 65,000 people who have been able to experience this mass live in Saint Peter’s Square, being more than aware that closes a historic stage in the Catholic Churchthat of the two living popes, which is not known if it will be repeated soon.
Throughout the funeral, officiated by the italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Redean of the College of Cardinalsthe faithful have been urged to “follow in the footsteps of Benedict XVI” and his message has been remembered, even using his own words.
“We too, clinging to the last words of the Lord and to the testimony that marked his life, want, as an ecclesial community, to follow in his footsteps and entrust our brother in the hands of the Father: may these hands of mercy find his lamp lit with the oil of the Gospel, which he spread and witnessed during his life”, the Pontiff pointed out in his homily.
Francis I carries the cross at the funeral of Benedict XVI.
In front of him, the cypress coffin of Benedict XVI, which had been carried to the center of Saint Peter’s Square by twelve gentlemen, rested with an open book of the Gospels and several of his personal belongings inside.
This coffin is the first to be used in the burial since the idea is that in the Vatican Crypts, the remains are re-introduced in a zinc coffin and then another one made of elm wood.
Francis I quoted Benedict XVI himself in his words at the Mass for accession to the Pontificate in 2005: “Feeding means loving, and loving also means being willing to suffer. To love means to give true good to the sheep, the food of the truth of God, of the word of God; the nourishment of his presence”, informs Europa Press.
Precisely, although in his planned homily, the Pope only named his predecessor as “our brother”, in the final sentence he referred directly to him by improvising his name.
“Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom (God)may your joy be perfect when hearing his voice definitively and forever”, he said. On the contrary, at the funeral mass of John Paul II in 2005, the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger named him up to eight times as much as John Paul II as by his first name Carol.
Some of the bishops present at Benedict XVI’s funeral take a selfie.
Reuters
Francis has also cited Saint Gregory the Great, one of the four great Fathers of the Latin or Western Church, and has said that he remained “float on the table of prayers.” In this way, he praised “the conscience of the Shepherd” who abandons himself to prayer: “He cannot bear alone what, in reality, he could never bear alone and, for this reason, he is capable of abandoning himself to prayer and the care of the people entrusted to him.”
In addition, it has highlighted that the faithful, like “the women of the Gospel” before the tomb of Jesus, pray before Benedict XVI “with the perfume of gratitude and the ointment of hope to show him, once again, that love that is not lost”. “It is the faithful People of God who, gathered together, accompanies and entrusts the life of whoever was his shepherd”, he said.
In the ceremony, in which the Gospel readings were in English, Spanish and Italian, the Queen Sofia representing Spain, accompanied by the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanos and the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, Isabel Celaá.
As it is not a state funeral, there are only two official delegations; those of Italy and Germany, the deceased’s native country, although authorities from other countries have also attended, but in a personal capacity such as the king Philip of Belgium and his wife matildaor the president of Poland, Andrzej Dudaamong others.
Queen Sofía attends the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI together with the King and Queen of Belgium
At the tomb of John Paul II
With the end of the mass, the twelve gentlemen have returned to collect the coffin of Benedict XVI to transfer it to the Vatican Grottoes where he will be buried.
The coffin of Benedict XVI will then be placed in another made of zinc and, in turn, in another made of elm wood, as we have already explained, and on the latter a simple crucifix and the shield of the deceased pontiff will be placed, and a simple tombstone. , on which the name of the pope and the dates of birth and death are written in Latin, will cover the burial.
The burial will take place in the tomb that belonged to John Paul II, before he was moved to the top of the basilica in 2011 for his beatification and subsequent canonization, at his express wish.
