Pope Francis on Sunday saluted the memory of "
beloved
" Benedict XVI, his predecessor who died on Saturday at the age of 95 and whose funeral he will celebrate Thursday morning in Saint Peter's Square, where thousands of faithful have already flocked.
"
Today we entrust the beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the Most Holy Mother (the Virgin Mary) to accompany him from this world to God
," he said at the outset. a mass under the gold of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
"
We all unite (...) to give thanks to God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church
", then affirmed the Argentine sovereign pontiff at midday, on the occasion of the weekly Angelus prayer.
He spoke from the window of the Apostolic Palace in front of the faithful gathered on the esplanade enclosed by Bernini's famous colonnade.
He then observed a moment of silence.
Brilliant theologian and fervent guardian of dogma, Benedict XVI, who had announced that he would resign in 2013 because of his declining strength, died on December 31, peacefully in the monastery where he had retired, in the heart of the Vatican gardens.
The funeral celebrated by Francis for his predecessor, head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, will be an unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church.
Read alsoThe Vatican publishes the spiritual testament of Benedict XVI
The public will already be able to gather from Monday morning in front of the body of Joseph Ratzinger, the first German pope in modern history, which will be exhibited in Saint Peter's Basilica before being buried in a crypt after his funeral.
The house where Benedict XVI was born in Marktl.
KERSTIN JOENSSON / AFP
In his native village in Germany, Marktl, the flag of the town hall was lowered, as on all public buildings in Bavaria.
His death puts an end to the unusual cohabitation of two men in white: on the one hand the German Joseph Ratzinger, a brilliant theologian not very comfortable with crowds, on the other the Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, a Jesuit endowed with an incisive word that wanted to put the poor and migrants back at the center of the Church's mission.