Thousands filed previous the physique of Benedict XVI on Monday because the pope emeritus, who died Saturday at age 95, lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica within the Vatican.
He can be buried by his successor, Pope Francis, on Thursday.
Benedict’s physique, draped in purple and gold vestments, is flanked by two Swiss guards, and surrounded by the trustworthy paying their respects, amid solemn organ music and singing. It’s the form of setting you’d count on for a papacy marked by his orthodoxy, albeit not with out his contradictions.
He was often known as a traditionalist — “God’s rottweiler” — for fiercely adhering to church doctrine. But Benedict’s papacy was a papacy of firsts.
Despite his failures, throughout a 2008 journey to the U.S., he was the primary pope to satisfy with victims of intercourse abuse and to publicly apologize, condemning what he referred to as “filth” within the church.
And in his most defining act, Benedict was the primary pope to resign in six centuries, recognizing, he stated, his “incapacity to fulfill” his ministry as a result of pressure of outdated age.
While he made an impressive farewell over the Eternal City in his exit from the papacy in 2013, he by no means exited the Vatican. While Francis championed Benedict’s bravery to abdicate his energy, having two males carrying white created the impression of two competing ideological camps: Francis the extra liberal, Benedict the arch-conservative.
Tina White, visiting the Vatican from Detroit, stated it was a mistake for Benedict to step down: “It’s an amazing honor to be elected pope. And you shouldn’t throw that away.”
But now, for the primary time since he turned pope practically 10 years in the past, Francis is lastly the one one, now mourning his solely confidant who may presumably perceive what it meant to be pope, stated Gerard O’Connell, Vatican skilled for the Jesuit journal America.
CBS News requested O’Connell, “What does Francis lose with the death of Benedict?”
“Francis has always been attracted to grandparents,” O’Connell replied. “He’s always referred to grandparents as very important in the life of the family. He has lost a grandfather.”
On Thursday it will likely be Francis making historical past, turning into the primary pope in trendy instances to preside over the funeral of his predecessor.
The Vatican says the ceremony can be sober and easy — precisely as Benedict needed.