To attend the historic funeral of Benedict XVI, you did not have to wait for your invitation card.
In any case, not for the majority of countries: Pope Benedict XVI no longer being in office for almost ten years, only the Italians and the Germans have their place officially reserved in the first row, this Thursday.
Germany, country of origin of the Bavarian Joseph Ratzinger who died on the last day of the year 2022, is represented by the two highest figures of the country: President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
For Italy, where the Pope Emeritus will have spent forty years of his life, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella leads the delegation.
For the others – the smallest state in the world still maintains diplomatic relations with 183 countries – the representatives come on their own, free to participate in a personal capacity in the funeral of the former head of the Catholic Church, a explained the head of the press room of the Holy See.
Something to take advantage of the event to send messages.
For France, the “trade union minimum”
Some send their highest figures.
Presidents and crowned heads have therefore already announced themselves, including King Philippe of Belgium, Queen Sofia of Spain.
The Polish, Hungarian and Portuguese Heads of State will also be there.
So many personalities and countries of Catholic tradition who "want to make their trip to greet Benedict XVI a political marker", analyzes Loup Besmond de Senneville, permanent special envoy to the Vatican from the newspaper La Croix, who adds: "For France, it is more delicate.
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Indeed, the choice of the French may surprise: Paris does not send its highest figure of the State.
No Emmanuel Macron on the forecourt of Saint-Pierre Basilica, therefore, but his Minister of the Interior and Worship, Gérald Darmanin.
“This is the normal level of French representation for a big event at the Vatican, specifies the journalist from La Croix.
From a protocol point of view, let's say it's the bare minimum", a sign that "France does not want to do more, whereas we could have expected a François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy or former ministers”.
At least six French bishops are also expected.
In addition to the politicians, the religious authorities come to represent the Christian Churches of the whole world, and in particular that of Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Despite the tensions with Pope Francis since the war in Ukraine, the number two of the Orthodox Church of Moscow, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, is traveling to Rome for Benedict XVI.
Conclusion, even if this is not what the micro-State of the Holy See wants to do with it, “this funeral is complicated to manage, it will necessarily be a political moment”, explains the French Vaticanist.
A solemn but sober funeral
The Catholic world is preparing for a historic funeral: it is the first time in the history of the Catholic Church that a pope is buried by his successor.
This farewell also marks the end of an unprecedented period which saw two sovereign pontiffs live together in the Vatican.
For this final tribute, the funeral mass will therefore be presided over by Pope Francis, 85, who appeared in a wheelchair this Wednesday.
The ceremony takes place in the huge St. Peter's Square, at the foot of the Vatican Basilica.
Closed from Wednesday evening after three days of exposure of his remains, the coffin of Benedict XVI will be carried outside from 8:50 a.m. for a time of prayer, before the start of the celebration at 9:30 a.m.
The ceremony will be “solemn but sober”, according to the will of the late pope, had specified the Vatican.
At the end of this funeral, during which a prayer will be read in German for the former bishop of Munich, the coffin of the pontiff will be carried inside the Basilica.
It is on the lower floor of the building, in the Vatican grottos, that the burial, in a small committee, of a triple coffin, of cypress, zinc and wood, will take place.
As tradition dictates for popes, Benedict XVI takes with him the medals and coins minted during his short pontificate, as well as his bishop's sashes and a text summarizing his eight-year term as head of the Catholic Church.
He will then rest in the free tomb of John Paul II, his predecessor, transferred to the Basilica.
VIDEO.
The body of ex-Pope Benedict XVI exposed to the public in the Vatican
Scaffolding for the media from all over the world, a thousand police officers, barriers, metal detectors… everything was prepared in a few days at the Vatican to welcome the tens of thousands of faithful expected at the Vatican.
The Prefect of Rome even announced the closure of the airspace above the Holy See.
Already, over the past three days, more than 150,000 people have come to pray before his body in Saint Peter's Basilica.
But make no mistake, they are mostly tourists, we qualify between Vaticanists.
It must be said that Benedict XVI, retired for almost ten years and living almost in hiding, “is a pope who had already disappeared for many, we are far from the popularity of John Paul II”, underlines a connoisseur.
For the funeral of the Polish Pope, more than half a million faithful came to pay homage to him.
