Follow LIVE the funeral and burial of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in the Vatican

The Pope Benedict XVI He held one of the most prominent positions in the world, but in his later years he expressed a desire to remain “hidden from the world.” While his body was on display for three days this week, his funeral on Thursday will at least partly respect his wishes for simplicity, but will also include some of the pomp reserved for a leader of the Catholic Church.

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Some rituals will take place out of public view. There will be other ceremonies loaded with tradition in the Saint Peter’s Squarebefore tens of thousands of people, including leaders and representatives of the royal families of various countries.

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Benedict XVI died on December 31, at the age of 95., in the Vatican monastery where he spent almost the entire decade of his retirement, and where he dedicated his days to prayer and reflection. This week, in which the Catholic Church says goodbye to its 265th pontiff, a series of rituals will be used: Some of them are ancient and others modified to adapt them to modern times.

These are some details of the official farewell from the Vatican:

WHAT COFFINS WILL BE USED?

After the last visitors left Wednesday night from the Basilica of Saint Peterin which the body of Benedict XVIhe was going to be placed in a carved cypress wood coffin in a strictly private moment.

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Before the coffin lid is put on, inside it will be placed some objects related to the papacy of Benedict XVI of almost eight yearsreported the Vatican. These include medallions and Holy See coins bearing her likeness minted during her papacy and circulating in euro denominations.

A one-page account of his papacy—known in Italian as “beg”, a word that refers to an official document — is rolled up and placed in a cylinder, and then placed inside the coffin. Together with Benedict, the pallios, the hallmark of his clerical career, will be buried. A thin stole, made by nuns in a cloister in Rome from sheep’s woolis a powerful symbol of the popes, who are also bishops of the Italian capital, and as such, shepherds of the flock of Catholic parishioners.

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Benedict XVI had an image of a canopy integrated into his papal emblem. The stole is also awarded to cardinals and archbishops. In the course of his career, Benedict was archbishop of Munich, in his native Germany, and was promoted to cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977.

At the conclusion of the funeral, the coffin of Benedict XVI will return to the basilica and will be transferred to the grottoes below the ground floor. There, near the underground crypt where he chose his resting place, the cypress coffin will be placed inside a zinc one. In turn, that coffin will be placed inside a third one made of oak wood.

WHAT WILL THE FUNERAL BE LIKE?

The coffin will be put on public display again on Thursday around 8:45 a.m.when transferred out of the basilica. The faithful have been invited in the Saint Peter’s Squarewhich is expected to number at least 60,000 people, to recite the rosary aloud. Pope Francis will preside at the funeral, taking his place in front of a canopied altar to deliver the homily and key invocations.

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Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will celebrate Mass at the altar. Francisco will direct the final rituals of Benedict XVI’s funeral. These imply recite a formal farewell, known in Latin as “Ultima Commendatio et Valedictio,” and sprinkle the remains with holy water and incense.

Most of the liturgy of the Mass mirrors that of the funerals of the reigning pontiffs. There will be one notable exception: Other funerals, including John Paul II’s in 2005, included a special “suppliche,” or pious implorations—characterized by a long litany of saints’ names—in a reflection of a pontiff’s role as bishop of Rome and also head of the Eastern rite churches.

But since Benedict withdrew from the papacy before his death, these pleas will not be made in the square.

WHERE WILL BENEDICT XVI’S FINAL RESTING PLACE BE?

The remains of Benedict XVI will occupy a crypt in which the tomb of John Paul II was, whose remains were transferred from the caves to the main basilica for their beatification in 2011 during the papacy of Benedict XVI. Pope Francis canonized the Polish pontiff in 2014.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.