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VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Beneath a foggy grey sky on Thursday (Jan. 5), a historic funeral in St. Peter’s Sq. noticed the sitting pontiff, Pope Francis, preside at a somber and easy ceremony for his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, in a liturgy reflecting the uncommon scenario of getting had, for the previous 10 years, two males within the Vatican with the title of pope.
Almost 50,000 individuals, together with some 3,700 monks, attended the Mass, a noticeably smaller quantity than the same old crowd when a pope dies, however reflecting the relative obscurity of the final decade of Benedict’s life, spent in quiet retirement after he turned the primary pope to resign in 600 years.
Thursday’s Mass was mentioned in Latin, with the readings in English and Spanish, with Francis overseeing a liturgy that, in line with the Rev. James Bradley, a canon regulation professional at Catholic College of America and member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, underlined a spirit of unity within the church and respect for Benedict’s former position.
The Mass was celebrated in purple vestments, historically solely worn in recognition of a pope (as an alternative of the black, purple or white). Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the school of cardinals who was the principle officiant, and the cardinals concelebrating the Mass with him wore vestments made throughout Benedict’s reign, along with his coat of arms embroidered on the backside.
Bishops and cardinals attend the funeral Mass for Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
Francis, who didn’t rejoice the Mass due to power ache in his proper knee, used Benedict’s gold workers, known as a ferula, reasonably than the one belonging to St. Paul VI that he usually makes use of.
“There have been good touches within the ceremony itself that acknowledged Pope Benedict’s personal liturgical legacy,” Bradley mentioned.
Witnessing a pope preside over the funeral of his predecessor is “unprecedented in trendy instances,” Bradley famous, saying that “what modified actually was not the ceremony however the ceremonies accompanying the ceremony.”
Since Benedict was not reigning pontiff when he died, liturgists on the Vatican structured the Mass in a approach that took that under consideration whereas nonetheless reflecting that Benedict was as soon as pope.
“That’s been finished very fastidiously and in a really thought of approach but additionally recognizing that that is solely new, and that individuals are simply kind of feeling their approach ahead,” mentioned Bradley.
One notable distinction was that Benedict’s fisherman’s ring, symbolizing his papal authority, had already been damaged after his resignation from the papacy in 2013, as is the apply when a pope dies.
But when Mass lacked the pomp and majesty that normally accompanies papal funerals, Benedict’s physique was positioned within the grottoes beneath St. Peter’s Basilica after the Mass as had been his predecessors’, and within the conventional triple coffin accorded to popes.
The simplicity of the funeral centered consideration on the liturgy itself, fittingly, Bradley mentioned, for a pope who “noticed the liturgy not ever as level of division however all the time as a degree of unity. This isn’t a church for Italy, or for France or for Spain, or for the nineteenth century, or for the fifteenth century or the twenty first century. It’s a church for all individuals always and in any respect locations.”
In his homily, Francis hewed to the themes of resurrection as is frequent church apply at funerals and will have come throughout as simple and quick to those that anticipated Francis to deal with the life and legacy of his predecessor. However in specializing in urging his listeners to wish for Benedict’s soul to go to heaven, mentioned Bradley, Francis honored each customized and Benedict.
Trustworthy attend the funeral Mass for Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
“Benedict by no means spoke about Benedict, he all the time spoke about Christ. I feel Francis was carrying that by means of,” mentioned Bradley. “He wasn’t looking for to make this about Benedict the person, that’s for others to do at different instances. The funeral isn’t the place for that.”
“God’s trustworthy individuals, gathered right here, now accompanies and entrusts to him the lifetime of the one who was their pastor,” Francis mentioned in his homily. “Benedict, trustworthy pal of the Bridegroom, might your pleasure be full as you hear his voice, now and perpetually!”
Francis spoke on the studying from the Gospel of Luke, which recalled Jesus’ final phrases commending his spirit to God. “Holding quick to the Lord’s final phrases and to the witness of his whole life, we too, as an ecclesial group, wish to comply with in his steps and to commend our brother into the palms of the Father. Might these merciful palms discover his lamp alight with the oil of the Gospel that he unfold and testified to for his whole life,” Francis mentioned.
The coffin of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is sealed on the Vatican, Jan. 5, 2023, in preparation for burial. (Vatican Media)
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