The Vatican released the first photos of the body of Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday at the age of 95 and was remembered once once more this Sunday by his successor, the Pope Francisco.
In the images you can see the deceased lying on a catafalquedressed in white with a red chasublethe color of papal mourning, with a white miter adorned with a gold border and a rosary entwined in his hands.
The catafalque stands in the center of a small private chapel of the monastery where he lived since his resignation in 2013, located in the middle of the Vatican gardens.
It is a space particularly sober, compared to the elegant halls of the apostolic palace, with a crucifix, a Christmas tree and a manger.
A group of cardinals prayed this Sunday in front of the remains of Joseph Ratzinger, according to a photo posted on social media. “Today we entrust to the Blessed Mother to the beloved pope emeritus Benedict XVI to accompany him on his way from this world to God,” he said. Francisco during the solemn mass of the first of the year in the Basilica of Saint Peter.
“We unite all together, with a one heart and one soulby giving thanks to God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church”, the Argentine pontiff reiterated during the Angelus, who will preside over the funeral next Thursday ceremony of his predecessor in the Vatican.
“I want to attend the funeral, I think There are a lot of people coming from abroad,” Luca Scotti, a 58-year-old Roman, told AFP, present this Sunday along with some 40,000 faithful at the Angelus in Saint Peter’s Square.
The brilliant theologian and fervent guardian of dogma, who left his position in 2013 citing the decline of his forces, He passed away on Saturday at the age of 95. following several days of agony in the monastery where he lived.
This is the first time in history that a reigning pope will celebrate the obsequies of a pope emeritus, that is to say without functions. The ceremony will begin on Thursday in Saint Peter’s Square and it will be sober, just as Benedict XVI himself desired.
The faithful may watch from monday morning until Wednesday the body of Joseph Ratzinger in the funeral chapel that will be opened in the Basilica of Saint Peter.
At the end of the funeral, to which all the faithful can attend without the need for a ticketthe coffin of the emeritus pontiff will be buried in the vatican grottoes, where the tombs of the popes are located, the Vatican said in a statement.
With this act, the saga of the “two popes”, the two dressed in white, who have lived together for almost a decade in the smallest state in the world.
The day before, Catholics and tourists present in the Vatican expressed their sadness for the death of the German pontiff, who represented a conservative view of the church, less sensitive to conflict and problems of the world’s poorest.
“It is a great pain. He was a very reserved person. but we perceive its depth and it did a lot for the church”, estimated Milo Cecchetto, a Roman present in the square.
In his spiritual testament, written in 2006 and released on Saturday, Benedict XVI asked for “heart forgiveness” to all those whom he may have offended in his life.
He also thanked his parents for they gave him life “at a difficult time”, in Germany in 1927, It was headed towards Nazism.
His death sparked reactions around the world, from the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, even the presidents of United States, France or Russia, They sent messages of condolences.
The death of Benedict XVI also opens a new stage for the pontificate of Francis86, who on several occasions has confessed that does not rule out giving up if you become disabled.
An option that was impossible with two popes in the vatican one emeritus and one reigning. Three pontiffs would be unthinkable even for the most anticlerical.
For many observers and vaticanistas, Francis is engaged in a series of internal reforms and he does not intend to abdicate for now. That might fix the norms for popes emeritus following the precedent set by Benedict XVI, the first to resign in six centuries of history.
