05 January 2023
Photo © Vatican Media
(ANS – Vatican City) – On the parvis of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican this morning, January 5, 2023, the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was celebrated, presided over by Pope Francis. In the presence of some 60,000 faithful and more than 3,700 concelebrating priests, 400 bishops and 130 cardinals, the final farewell to Joseph Ratzinger took place as scheduled. At 8:45 a.m. (UTC+1) the coffin with the remains of Benedict XVI was transported from the basilica to the parvis in St. Peter’s Square. This was followed by the recitation of the Rosary and Mass at 9:30 a.m.
Many authorities were present: two official delegations from Germany, the birthplace of the Pope Emeritus, headed by the Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier; and from Italy, his second homeland, as he always called it, led by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. And then the participation, in a personal capacity, as specified by the Holy See Press Office, of many high representatives of peoples and nations, such as, among others, the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, Queen Sofia of Spain, the Royals of Belgium Philip and Mathilde, the President of Portugal Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa, and the Hungarian President Katalin Novak.
The presence of religious leaders was also significant: for the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Metropolitan Polycarp of Italy were present, while for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, there was Metropolitan Gennadios of Botswana. Representing the Moscow Patriarchate was Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External Ecclesiastical Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Also present were delegations from the evangelical communities, the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and Methodist churches; as well as, a delegation from the Jewish community in Rome; and Yassine Lafram, President of the Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy; and Yahya Pallavicini, Vice President of the Italian Islamic Religious Community.
During the Mass, the chosen readings directed the celebration toward understanding the relationship between “creatures” and Creator, human finiteness and Divine Mercy, as well as the hope that lies in the faith of eternal life.
In his homily, Pope Francis chose the term “devotion” as the key words of Joseph Ratzinger’s pontificate and life. Devotion to study, as a theologian who marked the life and magisterium of the Church for decades; devotion to the universal people of God, in his 8 years or so of pontificate; and devotion to prayer, in the prayerful community he had originated in the “Mater Ecclesiae” Monastery in the Vatican, during his nearly 10 years as Pope Emeritus. Devotion that in fact Pope Francis defines as “grateful devotion, in service to the Lord and to His people, a service born of thanksgiving for a completely gracious gift”; “ prayerful devotion” one that is “silently shaped and refined amid the challenges and resistance that every pastor must face.” (cf. 1 Pet. 1:6-7) and the confident invitation to shepherd the flock; and, finally, “devotion sustained by the consolation of the Spirit, who always precedes the pastor in his mission.”
Among the four quotations from his predecessor featured in Pope Francis’ homily, the one taken from the homily at the Mass at the beginning of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, April 24, 2005, also stands out, where Joseph Ratzinger recalled that “Shepherding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer.” A suffering faced, accepted and offered by Benedict XVI for the good of the Church.
That is why at the conclusion of the homily Pope Francis was able to state with conviction, “Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!”
At the end of the Mass always the Pontiff presided over the rite of the Ultima Commendatio and Valedictio, by which he definitively entrusted his predecessor to Divine Mercy.
The coffin with the body of the Pope Emeritus was then brought before Pope Francis, who paused there in prayer for a few moments, and was then introduced by the papal porters into the interior of the Vatican Basilica, to be then transferred inside a second zinc casket and finally into a final wooden container. The coffin, which also contained the pontificate medals, palliums and the “deed” – a written text briefly describing his life – was finally interred in the Vatican Grottoes.
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