The churches of the world have woken up this Saturday doubling dead. Former Pope Benedict XVI, whose name was Joseph Ratzinger, has died this morning at the age of 95 after debating in the last week between life and death. The death of the elderly German pontiff, who had lived in retirement since 2013, occurred at 9:34 a.m. in his quarters in the convent of Mater Ecclesiae, inside the Vatican, as confirmed by the Vatican spokesman, the Italian-British Matteo Bruni. Born on April 16, 1927 in Marktl, a small town in southeastern Germany, Benedict XVI had been ordained a priest in 1951 and, 54 years later, was elected Pope after the death of John Paul II. Ratzinger, 265 successor to Peter, later became the first pontiff to resign in 600 years of Christian history. His funeral will be held on Thursday, January 5, in St. Peter’s Square.
At the same time that the world’s media covered the death, Bruni appeared in the Vatican Press Room to give more information about the sad announcement. The Vatican spokesman, visibly moved, explained that Benedict XVI had received extreme unction last Wednesday, after the afternoon mass that took place that day, in an act witnessed by the nuns who attended him.
“This morning I give you some sad news. The Pope emeritus has passed away & rdquor ;, Bruni began by saying. The spokesman also indicated that the funeral of the deceased will be held next Thursday at 9:30 in the morning and will be officiated (“obviously & rdquor ;, he said) by Pope Francis. Bruni did not give more details about the funeral, which is unprecedented as it is a pope who had voluntarily resigned, but stressed that the body of the deceased will be exposed to the public starting next Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica. In this way, the faithful will be able to “one last greeting,” Bruni said.
Concern for the state of health of the German pope and theologian arose on Wednesday, December 28, when his successor, Francis, acknowledged that he was “very ill” and asked for “a special prayer” from the faithful who attended his general audience.
-Experts say it is unlikely that the reigning pope, Francis, would favor a modest funeral. On the contrary, the most shared prognosis is that the Argentine pontiff will organize a great ceremony when the time comes and that the Roman Ritual, the rite that entails a nine-day mourning, will be used -at least in part-.
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The funerary arrangement is unprecedented, as was Benedict’s decision to resign from the pontificate in 2013, which opened the door to an atypical time for two Popes who have lived together in peace for more than ten years in the Vatican. The questions are many: who will announce his death to the world? Who will hold the funeral? How will he be dressed? Are they officially state funerals?
In the next few hours, the funeral operation designed for a pope emeritus will be revealed.