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PHOTOS: Benedict XVI laid to rest in private ceremony

January 5, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Benedict XVI’s coffin is carried in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 5, 2023. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2023 / 06:14 am (CNA).

Benedict XVI was buried in the Vatican on Thursday in a strictly private ceremony.

His wooden coffin was placed in the crypt under the central part of St. Peter’s Basilica in the first tomb of St. John Paul II, following the Jan. 5 funeral Mass presided over by his successor, Pope Francis.

The casket was carried from St. Peter’s Square through the main entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica toward the altar, flanked by cardinals, before being brought to the crypt underneath.

Benedict XVI’s coffin was closed in the evening of Jan. 4 after three days of public visitation in St. Peter’s Basilica. The private ceremony took place in the presence of Benedict’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and a number of cardinals, including Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Before the casket was closed, a one-page summary in Latin of Benedict XVI’s papacy, called a “rogito” in Italian, was rolled into a metal cylinder and placed inside.

According to the Vatican, 195,000 people visited the body of Benedict XVI during the three days of public viewing.

He was laid to rest in the same tomb where St. John Paul II was buried before his beatification.

Before the burial, a ribbon was placed around the coffin, along with three seals: from the Apostolic Chamber, the Pontifical Household, and the office of liturgical celebrations. The coffin was then placed in a zinc coffin and sealed. 

The coffin of Pope Benedict XVI is prepared for interment in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica on Jan. 5, 2023. Vatican Media
The coffin of Pope Benedict XVI is prepared for interment in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 5, 2023. Vatican Media

The zinc coffin was placed in another wooden coffin and then entombed on the north side of the central part of the Vatican crypt. On the wall above the spot there is an image of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus flanked by angels. 

Queen Christina of Sweden, who died on April 19, 1689, is buried in a sarcophagus immediately to the right.

Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, Pietro Parolin, Angelo De Donatis, Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, Edgar Peña Parra, Mauro Gambetti, and the consecrated women of the pope emeritus’ household were present for the closing of the coffin on Jan. 4.

St. John Paul II’s tomb was in the crypt from the date of his funeral April 8, 2005, until April 29, 2011, when his casket was moved to the upper part of St. Peter’s Basilica a few days before his beatification ceremony.

[…]

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Missed Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral? Watch it here

January 5, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
Watch EWTN’s coverage of the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI / EWTN

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2023 / 04:50 am (CNA).

Tens of thousands of people were present in St. Peter’s Square for the funeral Thursday of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a leading theologian of the 20th century and the first pope to resign from office in nearly 600 years.

Because the Mass began at 9:30 a.m. Rome time (3:30 a.m. ET) many people in the U.S. and elsewhere were not able to watch it live. You can watch EWTN’s live coverage in the YouTube video at the bottom of the story. EWTN will rebroadcast the Mass on its cable network Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET and again at 9 p.m. ET.

The funeral Mass was simple and solemn, in accord with Benedict XVI’s wishes. The Sistine Chapel Choir sang the “Salve Regina,” “In Paradisum,” and other hymns. An image of the resurrection of Christ was hung from St. Peter’s Basilica behind the altar.

Royalty, cardinals, patriarchs, government officials, and many Catholic families and religious attended the funeral on a cold and foggy morning at the Vatican. More than 3,700 priests concelebrated the Mass. 

Cardinals Joseph Zen, Daniel DiNardo, Timothy Dolan, Gianfranco Ravasi, and Giuseppe Betori, all cardinals created by Benedict, were seated in the front row. The Vatican said 125 cardinals concelebrated.

The ceremony began with the transport of the pope emeritus’ wooden coffin from the basilica to St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis presided over the funeral for his predecessor. In his homily, Francis reflected on Jesus’ final words on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

“God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompany and entrust to him the life of the one who was their pastor,” he said. You can read CNA’s full report on the funeral here, and the full text of Pope Francis’ homily here.

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FULL TEXT: Pope Francis’ homily at Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s funeral Mass

January 5, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis delivers the homily at the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square on Jan. 5, 2023. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2023 / 03:46 am (CNA).

At 9:30 a.m. this morning Pope Francis presided over the funeral Mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This is the full text of his homily:

“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). These were the final words spoken by the Lord on the cross; his last breath, as it were, which summed up what had been his entire life: a ceaseless self-entrustment into the hands of his Father. His were hands of forgiveness and compassion, healing and mercy, anointing and blessing, which led him also to entrust himself into the hands of his brothers and sisters. The Lord, open to the individuals and their stories that he encountered along the way, allowed himself to be shaped by the Father’s will. He shouldered all the consequences and hardships entailed by the Gospel, even to seeing his hands pierced for love. “See my hands,” he says to Thomas (Jn 20:27), and to each of us: “See my hands.” Pierced hands that constantly reach out to us, inviting us to recognize the love that God has for us and to believe in it (cf. 1 Jn 4:16).

“Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” This is the invitation and the programme of life that he quietly inspires in us. Like a potter (cf. Is 29:16), he wishes to shape the heart of every pastor, until it is attuned to the heart of Christ Jesus (cf. Phil 2:5). Attuned in grateful devotion, in service to the Lord and to his people, a service born of thanksgiving for a completely gracious gift: “You belong to me… you belong to them,” the Lord whispers, “you are under the protection of my hands. You are under the protection of my heart. Stay in my hands and give me yours.” Here we see the “condescension” and closeness of God, who is ready to entrust himself to the frail hands of his disciples, so that they can feed his people and say with him: Take and eat, take and drink, for this is my body which is given up for you (cf. Lk 22:19). The total synkatabasis of God.

Attuned in prayerful devotion, a devotion silently shaped and refined amid the challenges and resistance that every pastor must face (cf. 1 Pet 1:6-7) in trusting obedience to the Lord’s command to feed his flock (cf. Jn 21:17 ). Like the Master, a shepherd bears the burden of interceding and the strain of anointing his people, especially in situations where goodness must struggle to prevail and the dignity of our brothers and sisters is threatened (cf. Heb 5:7-9). In the course of this intercession, the Lord quietly bestows the spirit of meekness that is ready to understand, accept, hope and risk, notwithstanding any misunderstandings that might result. It is the source of an unseen and elusive fruitfulness, born of his knowing the One in whom he has placed his trust (cf. 2 Tim 1:12). A trust itself born of prayer and adoration, capable of discerning what is expected of a pastor and shaping his heart and his decisions in accord with God’s good time (cf. Jn 21:18): “Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence.”

Attuned also in devotion sustained by the consolation of the Spirit, who always precedes the pastor in his mission. In his passionate effort to communicate the beauty and the joy of the Gospel (cf. Gaudete et Exsultate, 57). In the fruitful witness of all those who, like Mary, in so many ways stand at the foot of the cross. In the painful yet steadfast serenity that neither attacks nor coerces. In the stubborn but patient hope that the Lord will be faithful to his promise, the promise he made to our fathers and to their descendants forever (cf. Lk 1:54-55).

Holding fast to the Lord’s last words and to the witness of his entire life, we too, as an ecclesial community, want to follow in his steps and to commend our brother into the hands of the Father. May those merciful hands find his lamp alight with the oil of the Gospel that he spread and testified to for his entire life (cf. Mt 25:6-7).

At the end of his Pastoral Rule, Saint Gregory the Great urged a friend to offer him this spiritual accompaniment: “Amid the shipwreck of the present life, sustain me, I beseech you, by the plank of your prayer, that, since my own weight sinks me down, the hand of your merit will raise me up.” Here we see the awareness of a pastor who cannot carry alone what in truth he could never carry alone, and can thus commend himself to the prayers and the care of the people entrusted to him. God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompanies and entrusts to him the life of the one who was their pastor. Like the women at the tomb, we too have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope, in order to show him once more the love that is undying. We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness, and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years. Together, we want to say: “Father, into your hands we commend his spirit.”

Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!

[…]

The Dispatch

Benedict XVI’s funeral: Tens of thousands attend simple, solemn liturgy for beloved pope emeritus

January 5, 2023 Catholic News Agency 2
The coffin of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is carried into St. Peter’s Square prior to his funeral Mass on Jan. 5, 2023. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2023 / 03:21 am (CNA).

Tens of thousands of people were present in St. Peter’s Square for the funeral Thursday of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a leading theologian of the 20th century and the first pope to resign from office in nearly 600 years.

Royalty, cardinals, patriarchs, government officials, and many Catholic families and religious attended the funeral on a cold and foggy morning at the Vatican. More than 3,700 priests concelebrated the Mass.

Cardinals Joseph Zen, Daniel DiNardo, Timothy Dolan, Gianfranco Ravasi, and Giuseppe Betori, all cardinals created by Benedict, were seated in the front row. The Vatican said 125 cardinals concelebrated.

The ceremony began with the transport of the pope emeritus’ wooden coffin from the basilica to St. Peter’s Square.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s personal secretary, approached the coffin, knelt before it, and kissed it. The crowd then prayed the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary in Latin for the repose of the soul of the late pope.

The funeral Mass was simple and solemn, in accord with Benedict XVI’s wishes. The Sistine Chapel Choir sang the “Salve Regina,” “In Paradisum,” and other hymns.

An image of the resurrection of Christ was hung from St. Peter’s Basilica behind the altar.

Pope Francis presided over the funeral for his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

In his homily, he reflected on Jesus’ final words on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

“God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompany and entrust to him the life of the one who was their pastor,” he said.

“Like the women at the tomb,” he said, “we too have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope, in order to show him once more the love that is undying. We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.”

Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31 at the age of 95. As confirmed by Archbishop Gänswein, his last words were “Signore, ti amo!” (“Lord, I love you”).

Nearly 200,000 people came to see Benedict XVI lying in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica in the days ahead of the funeral.

“Together, we want to say: ‘Father, into your hands we commend his spirit,’” Francis said in his homily. “Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever.”

The Vatican only invited two official state delegations — from Italy and Germany — to the funeral, but some heads of state and public figures decided to attend in an unofficial capacity.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, and Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar came to the Vatican to attend the ceremony, along with European royals Queen Sofia of Spain and King Philip and Queen Mathilde of Belgium.

In the Prayers of the Faithful, the second prayer was said in German: “For Pope Emeritus Benedict, who has fallen asleep in the Lord: May the eternal Shepherd receive him into his kingdom of light and peace.”

The readings for the Mass were Isaiah 29:16–19 in Spanish; Psalm 23 sung in Latin; 1 Peter 1: 3–9 in English, and the Gospel of Luke 23:39–46 read in Italian.

At the end of the funeral Mass, Pope Francis presided over the Final Commendation and Valediction, which were followed by a moment of silent prayer.

Pope Francis approached with a cane and prayed while touching the wooden coffin of his predecessor.

Bells tolled and the crowd applauded as Benedict XVI’s coffin was carried into St. Peter’s Basilica to his place of burial in the basilica crypt. People waved flags and banners, including one that said “Santo Subito,” calling for Benedict’s immediate canonization.

Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, he was elected to the papacy in April 2005, taking the name Benedict XVI, after decades of service to the Catholic Church as a theologian, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cardinal, and one of the closest collaborators of St. John Paul II, whom he succeeded as pope.

Widely recognized as one of the Catholic Church’s top theologians, Benedict’s pontificate was marked by a profound understanding of the challenges to the Church in the face of growing ideological aggression, not least from an increasingly secular Western mindset, both within and outside the Church. He famously warned about the “dictatorship of relativism” in a homily just before the conclave in 2005 that elected him pope.

On Feb. 11, 2013, the 85-year-old Benedict shocked the world with a Latin-language announcement of his retirement, becoming the first pope in 600 years to do so. He cited his advanced age and his lack of strength as unsuitable to the exercise of his office.

Reflecting on life after death in an Angelus message on Nov. 2, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI said eternal life will be like “immersing yourself in the ocean of infinite love where time — a before and an after — no longer exists. Fullness of life and joy: This is what we hope for and expect from our being with Christ.”

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Cardinal Zen attends Benedict XVI funeral after Hong Kong authorities release passport

January 5, 2023 Catholic News Agency 3
Cardinal Joseph Zen, former bishop of Hong Hong (second from left), attends the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Jan. 5, 2023, in St. Peter’s Square. / Alan Koppschall/EWTN

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2023 / 02:25 am (CNA).

Cardinal Joseph Zen attended the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Thursday morning after Hong Kong authorities temporarily released his passport for five days to allow him to travel to Rome.

The 90-year-old cardinal from Hong Kong arrived in St. Peter’s Square dressed in red and walking with a cane to concelebrate the funeral Mass on Jan. 5.

The former bishop of Hong Kong, who was arrested last year under the city’s national security law, was allowed by a local court to travel to Italy to be present for the funeral of the late pope who made him a cardinal.

A magistrate ruled on Jan. 3 that the Chinese cardinal would be allowed to leave Hong Kong for five days with his previously confiscated passport temporarily returned to him.

Following the death of Benedict XVI on Dec. 31, Zen reflected on the legacy of the late pope emeritus.

The cardinal wrote on his blog that Benedict XVI was a “great defender of the truth” who took “extraordinary” actions to support the Church in China, despite many setbacks.

“As a member of the Chinese Church, I am immensely grateful to Pope Benedict for things he has done that he did not do for other Churches,” Zen wrote.

The Hong Kong cardinal recalled in particular Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter to China, which Zen called “a masterpiece of balance between the lucidity of Catholic ecclesiological doctrine and humble understanding with respect to civil authority.”

Zen also criticized “errors” in the Chinese translation of Benedict’s letter, which he said he believed contained “biased quotations against the obvious sense of the letter.”

“Another extraordinary thing he did for the Church in China is the establishment of a powerful commission to take care of the affairs of the Church in China; unfortunately under the new president of said commission it has been made to disappear quietly without even a word of respectful farewell,” the cardinal added.

Benedict XVI created Zen a cardinal in 2006 and selected the cardinal to write the meditations for the papal Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in 2008, one year before Zen’s retirement as bishop of Hong Kong.

Zen underlined that he sees Benedict XVI as a pope who was “often misunderstood and sometimes not followed” but said that it is “precisely in these cases, which seem to be failures, that I was able to admire his great fortitude and magnanimity in the face of setbacks.”

“Despite his great efforts, Pope Benedict failed to improve the situation of the Church in China. He could not accept just any compromise,” the Chinese cardinal said.

The cardinal, who was born in Shanghai, added that he is “convinced that every effort to improve the situation of the Church in China [in the future] will need to be taken in line with the 2007 letter.”

“As we remember the great pontiff, let us remember that we now have him as a powerful intercessor in heaven. With his intercession, we pray that all, the Church in Rome, the Church in China, and the Chinese authorities will be moved by God’s grace to bring about true peace for the Church and our homeland,” Zen said.

[…]