Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of regular people flocked to the ceremony, despite Benedict’s request for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral for a pope emeritus in modern times low-key.
Pope Francis, center, sits as the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is carried during a funeral mass at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on Dec. 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement.| Jan. 5, 2023, 7:51 p.m.
“We came to pay homage to Benedict and wanted to be here today to say goodbye,” said Raymond Mainar, who traveled from a small village east of Munich for the funeral. “He was a very good pope.” Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, but other leaders took the Vatican up on its offer and came in their “private capacity.” They included several heads of state and government, delegations of royal representatives, a host of patriarchs and 125 cardinals.
A choir’s hymn echoed in the crypt as the casket was lowered into the ground, featuring Benedict’s papal coat of arms, a cross and a plaque noting in Latin that it contained his body: “Corpus Benedicti XVI PM,” for “pontifex maximus” or “supreme pontiff.” “Benedict has been the bridge between John Paul and Francis,” said Alessandra Aprea, a 56-year-old from Meta di Sorrento near Naples. “We could not have Francis without him.”
Francis didn’t mention Benedict’s legacy in his homily and only uttered his name once, in the final line, delivering instead a meditation on Jesus’ willingness to entrust himself to God’s will.
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