“I feel like he’s a grandfather to us,” he told Reuters on the Saint Peter’s Square Veronica Siegala 16-year-old Catholic high school student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is in Rome for a religious studies program, after viewing the body.
“I know he is in a better place because he was a holy man,” said his classmate. Molly Foleyalso 16 years old and Atlanta Georgia. A third young woman in the group carried an American flag on her back.
His body, dressed in red and gold liturgical vestments and placed on a simple dais, was carried in a procession just before dawn through the Vatican Gardens from the monastery to a spot in front of the high altar of the largest Church in Christendom. .
Two Swiss Guards stood at attention on either side of the body.who did not carry papal insignia or finery such as the crosier, the silver cane with a crucifix, or the pallium, the cloth band that archdiocesan bishops wear around their necks.
The body of Pope John Paul II was wearing both when he was laid to rest in 2005.
It is not clear if the pastoral cross or other objects he used will be buried with him.but the decision not to have them during the public visit seems to have been taken to underline that he was no longer a Pontiff when he died.
The spokesman for Vatican, Matteo Brunisaid Benedict will be buried according to his wishes in the same location in the crypts under St. Peter’s Basilica where Pope John Paul II was originally buried in 2005 before his body was moved to a chapel in the basilica in 2011.
It will remain at rest until Wednesday. His funeral will be held Thursday at the Saint Peter’s Square and will be chaired by Pope Francis.
Security was tight, and visitors went through several checkpoints before entering the basilica. Many stopped to pray after seeing the body or stayed to attend mass in side chapels.
Before the church opened to the public, the Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Georgia Meloni paid their respects.
Source: Ambito
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