Un place Saint-Pierre crowded, and a lot of emotion. Thousands of faithful crowded Monday, January 2, from the start of the morning, under the gold of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome to go and meditate before the remains of Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday at the age of 95. The Pope Emeritus’ funeral will be held on Thursday and will be presided over by Pope Francis.
A long queue has been snaking since dawn in St. Peter’s Square surrounded by Bernini’s colonnade, in the presence of numerous media and a thousand members of the police. “It seemed normal to me to come and pay homage to him after all he has done for the Church,” Sister Anna-Maria, an Italian nun, told AFP. “He was a great pope, deep and unique”, emphasizes Francesca Gabrielli, who came especially from Tuscany, who appreciates “the atmosphere of contemplation” reigning in the basilica.
READ ALSOMakarian – The last journey of Benedict XVIThe remains of Joseph Ratzinger rest on a catafalque stretched with fabric, surrounded by two Swiss Guards in ceremonial dress, in front of the main altar of the basilica dominated by a bronze baldachin with twisted colonnades. The deceased pope is dressed in red – the color of papal mourning – and wearing a white miter adorned with a golden braid, a rosary and a crucifix in his hands.
After passing through a security gate, worshipers and tourists enter through the central aisle into the largest church in the world, most photographing the body of the former pope with their smartphones. Some pray or make the sign of the cross.
Giorgia Meloni presents
The doors of the huge basilica will close at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. GMT), then reopen from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. GMT on Tuesday and Wednesday. Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was among the first visitors.
Saint Peter’s Basilica, a masterpiece of architecture combining Renaissance and Baroque styles, completed in 1626, is one of the most important places in Christianity, since it houses the burial place of the apostle Saint Peter, disciple of Christ and first bishop of Rome, of whom the popes are the successors.
Brilliant theologian and fervent guardian of dogma, Benedict XVI, who had resigned in 2013 because of his declining strength, died peacefully Saturday morning at the monastery where he had lived since then, located in the heart of the Vatican gardens. Early Monday, his body was transferred to the basilica where a ritual of blessing was held, in the presence of his close entourage, including the private secretary of the pope emeritus, Ms.gr Georg Ganswein.
Guardian of dogma
It is Pope Francis who will preside over the funeral of his predecessor on Thursday, an unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church, which will put an end to the unusual cohabitation of the two men in white.
The ceremony, “solemn but sober” according to the Vatican, will be held from 9:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. GMT) in Saint Peter’s Square, where the funeral of John Paul II attracted a million people in 2005.
READ ALSODeath of Benedict XVI: “It’s a new start for the pontificate of Francis”The first German pope in modern history will then be buried in the crypt of the basilica where John Paul II rested until 2011, Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Monday. Benedict XVI’s last words, spoken in Italian a few hours before his death on Saturday in the presence of a nurse at his bedside, were: “Lord, I love you”, reported Ms.gr Ganswein.
After his eight years of a pontificate marked by multiple crises, Benedict XVI had been caught up in early 2022 by the drama of pedocrime in the Church. Questioned by a report in Germany on his management of sexual violence when he was Archbishop of Munich, he broke his silence to ask for “pardon” but assured that he had never covered up a child criminal. A subject raised by Valerie Michalak, a German who came with her husband and their four children, originally from Dortmund, leaving the basilica: “We know that he was aware of certain details and he did not help to open the box of Pandora”, she regrets.
Born in 1927, Joseph Ratzinger taught theology for 25 years in Germany before being appointed Archbishop of Munich. He then became the strict guardian of the dogma of the Church for another quarter of a century in Rome at the head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.
Last pope to have participated in the Second Vatican Council, he however defended a conservative line at the head of the Church, in particular on abortion, homosexuality and euthanasia.