Two days after his death, Benedict XVI. publicly laid out in St. Peter’s Basilica. Long lines form in front of the church. Mourners from Germany have been waiting since the middle of the night.
Since Monday morning, believers in St. Peter’s Basilica have been invited by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. saying goodbye. The former pontiff was publicly laid out there two days after his death. Shortly after 9 a.m. the doors of the great basilica in the Vatican opened. There were long queues in front of the church and the security checkpoints – some had been waiting since the middle of the night.
Benedict died on Saturday morning at the age of 95. He was then laid out in the chapel of the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where he had lived for almost ten years after stepping down as pope in 2013. Friends and former companions prayed there at the body, including Benedict’s successor Francis.
Early Monday morning, the remains were taken the short way from the monastery to St. Peter’s Basilica in a minibus. Benedict is lying there in front of the large sanctuary. On the left and on the right is a member of the Swiss Guard, the historical bodyguard of the popes. The visitors are queuing in the aisle.
Meloni among the first mourners
Among the first mourners was Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. President Sergio Mattarella was in the basilica just before 9 a.m., Agnello Stoia, the parish priest of St. Peter’s Basilica, told the Ansa news agency. Benedict’s longtime companion and private secretary Georg Gänswein was also in the cathedral.
In front of the church, several hundred people lined up around the whole of St. Peter’s Square to get in. “I want to say goodbye to him,” said a believer from Germany, who waited in line for hours. “Since 1 a.m., I was the first,” he said. “I expect a certain calm and humility, just like he wanted,” said a man from Regensburg, where Ratzinger, who was born in Bavaria, was once a university professor and where his brother Georg died in 2020.
funeral service on Thursday
The gates of St. Peter’s Basilica should be open to visitors on Mondays until 7:00 p.m. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, people can go into the church and pass the Benedict in state from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The big funeral service is planned for Thursday, which Pope Francis himself wants to celebrate at 9:30 a.m. According to the prefecture of Rome, up to 60,000 people are expected to attend the requiem, which Benedict wanted to keep simple.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has already announced that he will be coming from Germany. The Vatican officially invited delegations from Germany – Benedict’s home country – and Italy. However, politicians or diplomats can also come from other countries. In addition, many high clergymen are expected, such as Benedict’s companions and those cardinals whom he raised to the cardinal rank.
Source: Stern
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