Rome on the day of the funeral service for Benedict XVI.

Nothing on this Thursday morning in the city center of Rome indicates that this is a special day. Only the weather is a bit unusual: After spring-like days with pleasant temperatures, thick fog lies over the Eternal City. As if autumn had caught up with spring in the middle of winter. Strange!

In the bar they talk about the victory of AS Roma and the gossip for Napoli, who lost to Inter Milan the night before. “The championship is launched again,” writes the Corriere della Sera. At the counter, a woman vents her anger at her two teenagers, who are apparently in the middle of puberty.

The Via Giulia, which leads straight from the city center towards the Vatican, is deserted. The street, one of the very few in Rome that doesn’t meander and get lost somewhere, was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to underscore the papal claim to power over the city’s ruling noble families. Today she lies still. As usual, the armored limousines are lined up in front of the anti-mafia office building. In front of the Collegio Spagnolo, two bishops and their entourage prepare to leave. It is the first visible indication of the upcoming funeral service.

Fewer mourners than expected

«Oltretevere», on the other side of the Tiber, is finally coming to life. They hurriedly march in the direction of Via Conciliazione: thickly wrapped mourners, religious, believers, curious on their way to St. Peter’s Square. Police officers with whistles are trying to regulate traffic, Red Cross employees and civil defense officers in garish vests are standing by, municipal garbage disposal employees are wiping away rubbish, radio journalists are mingling with the crowd with their microphones.

But chaos doesn’t break out here either, and you don’t want to talk about a folk festival atmosphere either, everything runs in an orderly and calm way. Rome, the old city, has probably already seen far too many major events, both secular and spiritual, for it to get out of joint today. The celebration for Benedict XVI. will take place calmly, that’s already clear. The authorities will later count only 50,000 mourners, which is fewer than forecast. And a lot fewer than in 2005, when John Paul II abdicated, when Rome was crowded with between one and three million visitors, depending on the count.

“Sober, but solemn,” said the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. wanted the funeral service. And so is she. Shortly before nine o’clock the coffin made of cypress wood is carried from St. Peter’s Basilica to the middle of the square in front of it. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s private secretary, kneels down and kisses him.

Suggestive images

Shortly thereafter, the incumbent Pope appears. Francis is brought to his place in front of the altar in a wheelchair and supported by helpers. The fair begins. To the left and right of the altar are the seats of the cardinals, bishops and guests of honour, in front of them those of the priests and acolytes – together with the mighty facade of St. Peter’s Basilica by Carlo Maderno and the colonnades by Gian-Lorenzo Bernini, this results in a suggestive image, an image of order and clarity. The relativism of our time, which Benedict also repeatedly complained about: it has no place here. Not today.

The chorales do their part. The tones are carried across St. Peter’s Square and evoke a celebratory atmosphere appropriate to the occasion.

By and large, Benedict will be buried like an incumbent pope, with only slight adjustments to the course of the ceremony. Prayers and readings take into account the fact that a pope who gave up his office ten years ago is buried here.

The words presented are sometimes difficult to understand acoustically for those present and are lost in the wind. Pope Francis speaks softly and reads from the sheet. The texts and the sermon can be read in the brochures distributed by helpers. They follow the liturgical pattern, Benedict as a person appears only rarely and in a rather abstract form. There is also no intellectual appreciation of his work – actually astonishing for a man who was celebrated in the obituaries primarily for his theological excellence.

Sometimes the sun breaks through on this cold morning, but the fog holds up well. He would invite cheap metaphors, for example about the diffuse situation and the unclear future of the Catholic Church or about the upcoming disputes that the now sole pope has to resolve.

Is something brewing?

The Italian media want to have identified the first poison arrows, such as a Interview by Archbishop Gänswein in the German newspaper “Tagespost”, which is considered right-wing Catholic. In it, Benedict’s private secretary expresses the dismay he felt when his successor Francis restricted the celebration of the Latin Mass in 2021. The papa emeritus read the corresponding decree “Traditionis custodes” by Francis “with pain in my heart,” said Gänswein. Are there major conflicts brewing? Will it continue in this rhythm, now that the emeritus is gone and can no longer stand protectively in front of Francis? Contains Gänswein’s biography, which is being published these days another source of conflict? The next few months will tell.

The Requiem is now drawing to a close. As the coffin is carried back into St. Peter’s Basilica, a few “Santo Subito” calls are heard. Benedict’s followers want him to be canonized like John Paul II. A delegation from Bavaria, the homeland of Joseph Ratzinger, started the song: “God be with you, you Bavarian country”. It’s the anthem of the Free State. The celebration, which had been very measured until then, briefly receives a fresh note.

And when Francis lays his hand on Benedict’s coffin in front of the door of St. Peter’s Basilica, it is finally perfect, the image that gives the day its historical significance. The incumbent pastor who says goodbye to his predecessor who resigned voluntarily – the Catholic Church has never seen that in this form.

Benedict’s coffin is now brought into the Vatican grottoes. He is buried there in private, in the original tomb of John Paul II. The cypress coffin is placed in a zinc coffin, which in turn is placed in a wooden box. So Benedict is finally laid to rest.

St. Peter’s Square empties quickly, the mourners lose themselves in the Eternal City. On the way back to the other side of the Tiber, we meet an old man, obviously a bit confused, walking in the opposite direction. Where did all these people come from, he asks. Well, from the funeral service for the Pope Emeritus, we answer. He shrugs and moves on.