The ceremony must be simple, solemn and sober, in accordance with the wishes of Benoît XVI, died December 31, at the age of 95.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Thousands of people were expected at the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benoît XVI, Thursday, January 5, place Saint-Pierre, in Rome. Pope Francis, 86, presides over the funeral ceremony of his predecessor, who started at 9:30 am. He arrived in a rolling chair in front of the altar where the simple woodworks containing the body of Joseph Ratzinger, on which been placed a copy of the Gospels, was deposited.
The ceremony must be simple, solemn and sober, in accordance with the wishes of Benoît XVI, who died on December 31, at the age of 95, at the Monastery Mater Ecclesiae, in the Vatican, where he had retired after his resignation , in 2013, the first in six hundred years. A mass of about two hours of Latin rite, in several languages, concelebrated by more than 4,000 cardinals, bishops and priests, must be celebrated.
buried in the crypt of the Saint-Pierre basilica
In accordance with tradition, the cypress coffin in which Benoît XVI rests contains coins and medals struck during his pontificate, his pallium (liturgical clothing) as well as a text briefly describing his pontificate, placed in a cylinder metallic. At the end of the ceremony, the coffin will be moved to the Saint-Pierre basilica, where it will be surrounded by zinc before being placed in a second wooden coffin.
From Monday to Wednesday, 195,000 faithful came to the Saint-Pierre Basilica to meditate before the remains of the German theologian. The prefecture of Rome provides for the funeral an crowd of 100,000 people. Joseph Ratzinger will then be buried, in private, in the crypt of the basilica where John Paul II rested until 2011, alongside 90 other popes.
Only two delegations, Germany and Italy, were officially invited by the Holy See, but many political leaders, religious dignitarians and crowned heads from all over the world have confirmed their presence. Among them, the King of the Belgians, Philippe, the Italian, Polish and Togolese presidents, the former Queen Sophie of Spain, or even Gérald Darmanin, the French Minister of the Interior.
More than a thousand journalists from 30 countries have been accredited for the event and 1,000 police officers mobilized, as well as many Italian civil protection volunteers.
Such an event is a first in the recent history of the Catholic Church. In 1802, Pius VII had celebrated the funeral of Pius VI, who died in exile in France three years earlier, but the latter had not given up his charge.
Brilliant teacher of theology, Joseph Ratzinger was for a quarter of a century the strict goalkeeper of the dogma of the Church in Rome at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith before being elected Pope in 2005. His Pontificate was marked by multiple crises, like the “Vatileaks” scandal in 2012, which had uncovered a large network of corruption in the Vatican. Joseph Ratzinger having renounced his ministry before his death, his funeral will follow the liturgy reserved for the funeral of the popes, “with some differences,” said the spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni.