On 5 January 2023 Pope Francis presided in St Peter’s Square over the funeral of Benedict XVI, who died on 31 December aged 95. How the ceremony went, who attended and why it was unusual.
On Thursday 5 January 2023, at 9.30 am, on a cold and foggy morning, Pope Francis presided in St Peter’s Square, in the Vatican, over the funeral of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The pope emeritus had died on 31 December 2022, at 9.34 am and aged 95, in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican. He had resigned the papacy in 2013.
The days before
The death was announced by the Holy See Press Office that same Saturday. The body remained in the monastery until the morning of Monday 2 January and, from 9 am that day, lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica: from 9 am to 7 pm on Monday and from 7 am to 7 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to Vatican News, more than 135,000 people had filed past the coffin by Tuesday evening; Catholic News Agency speaks of nearly 200,000 in all. The director of the Press Office, Matteo Bruni, explained that Benedict XVI had asked that everything, including his funeral, be marked by simplicity, as his life had been. The body, in red vestments, was guarded by members of the Swiss Guard.
The ceremony
The funeral Mass, held on the parvis of the basilica, followed the rite of the Eucharist, which was followed by the Ultima Commendatio and the Valedictio, the prayers of farewell. According to Catholic News Agency, 125 cardinals and more than 3,700 priests concelebrated. Tens of thousands of the faithful attended, and no ticket was needed to enter the square.
In the homily, Francis started from Jesus’s last words on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”, and asked that Benedict be found with his lamp lit with the oil of the Gospel he spread. He described him as a faithful friend of the Bridegroom and ended by wishing that his joy be complete. He also spoke of the devotion of pastors, grateful because they serve the Lord and his people out of thanksgiving, and prayerful because it includes intercession, and recalled that pastors in turn need the prayers and care of the people entrusted to them.
Who attended and why it was singular
The Vatican sent official invitations only to the authorities of Italy and Germany; other leaders could attend in a private capacity. The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, was in the square. According to Catholic News Agency, the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, the king and queen of Belgium and, from Spain, Queen Sofía also attended. The United States was represented by its ambassador to the Holy See.
According to Church historians cited in the press, it is the first time in modern times that a reigning pope has presided over the funeral of his predecessor. Because Benedict XVI was a pope emeritus and not a reigning pope, his death opens no conclave: Francis remains at the head of the Catholic Church.
When the Mass ended, the coffin returned to the basilica and was buried in the Vatican Grottoes, beneath St Peter. According to Vatican News, it occupies the tomb where John Paul II lay before his beatification, in line with Benedict XVI’s wishes. Inside the coffin, made of cypress, zinc and wood, a “rogito” was placed, a short text summarising his life and pontificate.
A sober funeral, as he wished, closing almost ten years in which a pope and a pope emeritus lived side by side in the Vatican.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
