The funeral of Benedict XVI will take place Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican.
And they will be celebrated by Pope Francis, the director of the Holy See's press service announced on Saturday shortly after the death of the former pope at the age of 95.
Benedict XVI's body will be on display at St. Peter's Basilica from Monday, Matteo Bruni also confirmed during a press conference, adding that Joseph Ratzinger had received extreme unction - or sacrament of the sick - shortly before his death. dead.
An unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church which tens of thousands of people could attend, including heads of state.
His death puts an end to the unusual cohabitation of two men in white: the German Joseph Ratzinger, a brilliant theologian not very comfortable with crowds, and the Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, a Jesuit endowed with an incisive word who wanted put the poor and migrants back at the center of the Church's mission.
He died in the Monastery of the Vatican Gardens
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose resignation in 2013 took the whole world by surprise, died on Saturday at the age of 95 in the monastery in the Vatican gardens where he had retired.
“I have the pain to announce to you that the pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, died today at 9:34 a.m., at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, in the Vatican”, announced in a press release the director of the press service of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni.
The health of the German theologian had deteriorated in recent days, but the Vatican had indicated on Friday that his condition was "stationary" and that he had participated in the celebration of Mass in his room on Thursday.
