Mourners have poured into Saint Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict the sixteen to pay their final respects to the German theologian and attend a rare service mass for a dead pope presided over by a living one. Bells tolled today and the crowd applauded as pallbearers carried Benedict’s cypress coffin out of the basilica and rested it before the altar in the piazza, as red-robed cardinals looked on.
Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of worshippers flocked to the Vatican, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral of a pope emeritus in modern times low-key.
Chidozie Chima | September 13, 2024
