Special envoy to Rome
This Thursday, at 9:30 a.m., Pope Francis presides over the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI.
This scenario is not a first.
On February 10, 1802, Pius VII presided over Pius VI's funeral at the Vatican.
Not following a renunciation, but the exile imposed by Bonaparte on Pius VI.
This pope died in Valence, in the French Drôme, in… 1799. Pius VII, his successor elected in 1800, had signed the Concordat, and therefore the reconciliation with Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1801, thus allowing the return of the body of Pius VI to Rome and his burial, three years after his death, with the honors due to his rank.
Read alsoAbbé Pierre Amar: “Orphans of Benedict XVI”
Honors which, for Benedict XVI, will be sober.
And worthy.
In accordance with the will of the deceased and the desire of the Church, which does not honor a reigning pope but a pope emeritus.
A relatively new situation on the liturgical level.
Only a few details will change in the protocol, but the ritual is that of a funeral mass.
Two prayers, directly linked to the reigning pope, said at the end of the mass, have been deleted.
The Eucharistic prayer will remember
“Pope Emeritus Benedict”
.
And during the first universal prayer, it will be asked in German that
“the Eternal Shepherd welcome into his reign of light and peace Pope Benedict, who fell asleep in the Lord”
.
The depth of Joseph Ratzinger's thought is still useful today
Pope Francis
According to the same custom, the body of the pope emeritus was exposed for veneration by the faithful in St. Peter's Basilica for three days.
Nearly 200,000 people came.
On Wednesday evening, his remains were placed in a coffin made of cypress, a water-resistant wood.
With him, several symbols are locked up there forever: his palliums, that is to say his episcopal ornaments, as bishop of Munich then of Rome, sorts of flat and narrow scarves marked with crosses;
the medals and coins struck with the effigy of his pontificate (2005-2013);
a document in Latin, saying who he was and what his pontificate was, placed in a tubular metal case.
This Thursday morning, at 8:50 a.m., the coffin will be solemnly carried by twelve men and placed on the forecourt of Place Saint-Pierre, on the ground.
A gospel will be placed on the casket.
At the end of the mass, he will be transported to one of the crypts of Saint Peter's Basilica.
This place once housed the tombs of John XXIII and John Paul II, before they were canonized and therefore definitively exposed to the piety of the faithful under the altars of Saint Peter's Basilica.
Before being buried, the cypress coffin will be protected by a zinc coffin and then by another in wood.
Play the videoFuneral of Benedict XVI: the program of the ceremony
Francis will preside over the mass and deliver the homily.
But, because of her knee problems, she will be celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the college of cardinals.
It must end at 11:15 a.m.
A hundred cardinals are expected there.
For France: Cardinals Jean-Marc Aveline, probably Paul Poupard, who resides in Rome, and Dominique Mamberti, a close friend of Benedict XVI who was his foreign minister from 2006 to 2014.
300,000 people
There will also be 420 bishops, but the president of the French episcopate, Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, will not be in Rome.
The Conference of Bishops will be represented by Msgr. Vincent Jordy, vice-president.
Among others, Bishop Pierre d'Ornellas and Bishop Jean-Yves Riocreux are also announced.
Around them, nearly 4000 priests and a group of 250 choristers.
As for the number of faithful, the Vatican refused on Wednesday to give an estimate.
St. Peter's Square can accommodate 300,000 people.
The Via della Conciliazione, which goes from the Tiber to Saint Peter's Basilica, will also make it possible to follow the celebration.
Under a mild sky, according to the weather forecast.
But the record of 2 million faithful massed around the coffin of John Paul II, on April 8, 2005, with screens in several points of the city, will not be equaled.
Nor the number of delegations.
There were more than a hundred countries officially represented for the Polish pope, only two for the pope emeritus, as Francis decided: Germany and Italy, which will be represented by their president.
Francis did not decree a day of mourning in the Vatican for his predecessor.
National delegations are however expected on an unofficial basis.
Gérald Darmanin, French Minister of the Interior, in charge of worship, will be present.
Also announced are Queen Sofia of Spain, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, the Presidents of the Republic of Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Togo and several heads of government : Gabon, Czech Republic, Slovakia.
Twenty-three representatives of other Christian denominations will be there, including Metropolitan Antoine of Volokolamsk, of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, who is currently at odds with the Vatican over the Ukrainian question.
Finally, more than 1,000 journalists from around the world, according to the Vatican, have requested accreditation to cover this event.
KTO and France 2 will broadcast the mass live.
Play the videoFuneral of Benedict XVI: the program of the ceremony
On Wednesday afternoon, Vatican services released the preface written by Pope Francis to a forthcoming book containing spiritual thoughts from Benedict XVI.
The reigning pope describes his predecessor as
“a master of the faith”
, whose
“(the) thought and (the) magisterium are and will always remain fruitful over time”
.
He adds:
“his argument of faith was carried out with the devotion of a man who had abandoned himself entirely to God and who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sought ever more deeply to penetrate the mystery of this Jesus who had fascinated him from his youth
.
According to Francis,
“the depth of Joseph Ratzinger's thought is still useful today”
and the whole Church is
“grateful” to him
.