Thousands mourn Pope Benedict XVI at Pope’s funeral
Pope Francis led a memorial service for the living king by a deceased priest in front of thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s Square. Dear Benedict.
B.Elles let out a loyal cheer as its owner pulled Benedict’s cypress coffin out of the mist-shrouded cathedral and placed it in front of the altar.
Archbishop Georg Genswein, Benedict’s longtime secretary, bent down and kissed the open Bible on the coffin.
Dressed in the crimson robe typical of papal burials, Francis took his place and opened mass with prayer.
An hour later, he closed the ceremony by blessing a simple coffin decorated only with the former pope’s coat of arms.
Despite Benedict’s demands for simplification and official efforts to simplify the first burial of the Pope in modern times, heads of state and members of the royal family, clerics, and thousands of ordinary people around the world have been dissuaded. People gathered for the ceremony.
Many came from Benedict’s home state of Bavaria and wore traditional clothing, such as boiled wool coats, to avoid the cold in the mornings.
“We came here to pay tribute to Benedict. We wanted to say goodbye here today,” said Raymond Miner from a small village east of Munich for the funeral. said.
“He was a very good pope.”
The former Joseph Ratzinger, who died December 31 at the age of 95, is considered one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century and has spent his life upholding the doctrines of the Church. But he will go down in history with his one revolutionary act that changed the future of the Pope. He retired and became the first retired pope in the sixth century.
Francis praised Benedict’s courage in stepping aside and said it “opened the door” for other popes to do the same. said to have issued.
The Vatican said about 50,000 people attended the three-day public exhibition after about 200,000 people paid their respects.
Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, but other leaders accepted the Vatican’s offer and participated in “special capacity.” These included delegations of several heads of state, at least his four prime ministers, and his two royal representatives. In addition, many patriarchs joined his 125 cardinals in seats beside the altar.
Among them was Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zeng, who arrived in Rome on Thursday with special judicial clearance to attend the funeral. Detained on suspicion of collaborating with foreign powers. When he was detained, his passport was revoked.
Matteo Colonna, 20, a seminary student in Teramo, Italy, said it was partly because of the historical nature of the funeral, but also because it had a personal resonance for him.
“The first spark in my career started during the testament of Benedict, but later became stronger under Pope Francis,” Colonna said as he prayed in St. Peter’s Square before his funeral. “I believe there is continuity between these two popes, and it is historic that Francis is celebrating Benedict’s funeral today.”
Early Thursday morning, the Vatican announced the official history of Benedict’s life, a short Latin document placed in a metal cylinder inside the coffin before it was sealed, the minting of papal coins and medallions, and the theft of pallium. did.
The document, literally paraphrasing Benedict’s Latin words when he announced his retirement on February 11, 2013, brought great attention to his historic resignation and described him as a “retired Pope.” .
Rogito, or known as the Act, is a document of “faith, prayer, penance, The Church’s constant call for purification”. .
Francis does not mention Benedict’s personal legacy in his sermon, only mentioning his name once in the last line, instead conveying the thought process of Jesus’ willingness to surrender to God’s will. increase.
“Standing by the last words of the Lord and the testimony of his entire life, as a church we want to follow in his footsteps and hand our brothers over to our fathers,” Francis concluded.
During the 25-year will of John Paul II, Ratzinger led the crackdown on dissent as Governor of Congregational Doctrine, taking action against the leftist liberation and dissident theology that spread throughout Latin America in the 1970s. caused She is a nun who does not follow the Vatican’s strict policy on issues such as sexual morality.
His legacy was marred by a priestly sexual harassment scandal, but he soon became aware of the “scum” of child abuse priests, laying the groundwork for the Holy See to punish them.
As Cardinal and Pope, he passed sweeping religious laws between 2004 and 2014, resulting in the deportation of 848 priests each year. However, survivors of the abuse say that failing to sanction the abuser-turned-bishop and embodying the ecclesiastical system that has long protected the institution from victims put him in danger. criticized.
A group representing survivors of harassment by German clergy urged German officials who attended Benedict’s funeral to demand further action from the Vatican on sexual harassment. , called on Francis to pass a “universal religious law” that would not tolerate any abuse of clergy.
“Celebrations celebrating the lives of abusers like Benedict must end,” said Snap, a large group of abuse victims in the United States.
The burial itself was modeled after the code used for the dead pope, but with some modifications since Benedict was not the pope in power when he died.
After the service, Benedict’s cypress coffin is placed in zinc, then in the outer oak coffin that was once buried in the vault under St. Peter’s Basilica. Moved up. .
Although the ritual is unconventional, there are some precedents. In 1802, Pope Pius VII presided over the funeral of his predecessor Pius VI, who had fled in France in 1799 as a prisoner of Napoleon, at Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Benedict didn’t expect his retirement to last this long. About ten years is longer than eight years will. In the unprecedented situation of a retired pope living with an incumbent pope, a protocol was needed to guide future popes to avoid confusion about who was actually responsible.
Authors: Nicole Winfield, Giada Zampano, France D’Emilio, Associated Press
Source: Belfast Telegraph
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