Pope leads final farewell at predecessor’s funeral
Francis pays tribute to pontiff ’s courage in retiring in 2013
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis joined tens of thousands of faithful Thursday in bidding farewell to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one, ending an unprecedented decade for the Catholic Church that was triggered by the German theologian’s decision to retire.
Bells tolled and the crowd applauded as pallbearers emerged from a fog-shrouded St. Peter’s Basilica and placed Benedict’s simple cypress coffin before the altar in the square outside.
Wearing the crimson vestments typical of papal funerals, Francis opened the service with a prayer and closed it by solemnly blessing the casket and bowing his head.
In between, Francis made only fleeting reference to
Benedict in his homily, offering a meditation on Christ instead of a eulogy of his predecessor’s legacy before the casket was sealed and entombed in the basilica grotto.
Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of regular people — including mourners from Benedict’s native Bavaria — flocked to the ceremony, despite his request for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral for a pope emeritus in modern times low-key.
“We came to pay homage to Benedict and wanted to be here today to say goodbye,” said Raymond Mainar, who traveled from a village east of Munich for the funeral.
Ignoring exhortations for decorum at the end, some in the crowd held banners or shouted “Santo Subito!” — “Sainthood Now!” — echoing the spontaneous chants that erupted during St. John Paul II’s 2005 funeral.
The former Joseph Ratzinger, who died Saturday at 95, is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest theologians and spent his lifetime upholding church doctrine.
But he will go down in history for a singular, revolutionary act that changed the future of the papacy: He retired, the first pope in six centuries to do so. Francis has praised Benedict’s courage in stepping aside, saying it “opened the door” for other popes to do the same.
But few, including Benedict, expected his 10-year retirement to last longer than his eight-year papacy, and the prolonged cohabitation of two popes in the Vatican Gardens sparked calls for protocols to guide future resignations.
Some 50,000 people attended Thursday’s Mass, according to the Vatican, after 200,000 paid their respects during three days of public viewing.
Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, but other leaders took the Vatican up on its offer and came in their “private capacity.” They included several heads of state and government, delegations of royal representatives, a host of patriarchs and 125 cardinals.
Among those attending was Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who was given special court permission
to attend the funeral. Zen was detained in May on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under China’s national security law after he fell afoul of authorities over his participation in a now-silenced democracy movement. His passport was revoked when he was detained.
Benedict’s confidants were also in attendance, most prominently the former pope’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein.
After the service ended, the coffin was brought to the basilica grotto, placed first
into a zinc casket, sealed, then placed into an oak one.
A choir’s hymn echoed in the crypt as the casket was lowered into the ground, featuring Benedict’s papal coat of arms, a cross and a plaque noting in Latin that it contained his body: “Corpus Benedicti XVI PM,” for “pontifex maximus” or “supreme pontiff.”
Early Thursday, the Vatican released the official history of Benedict’s life, a document in Latin that was placed in a metal cylinder in his coffin before it was sealed, along with the coins and medallions minted
during his papacy and his pallium stoles.
The document gave ample attention to his resignation and referred to him as “pope emeritus,” citing verbatim the Latin words he uttered Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced he would retire.
The document, known as a “rogito” or deed, also cited his theological and papal legacy, including his outreach to Anglicans and Jews and his efforts to combat clergy sexual abuse “continually calling the church to conversion, prayer, penance and purification.”