Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body is lying in state as thousands of people lined up across St. Peter’s Square hours before dawn on Monday to pay their respects.
As daylight broke, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen — lay assistants to pontiffs and papal households — carried the body on a cloth-covered wooden stretcher after its arrival at the basilica to its resting place in front of the main altar under Bernini's towering bronze canopy.
Just after 9 a.m. , the doors of the basilica were swung open so the public, some who had waited for hours in the dampness before dawn, could pay their respects to the late pontiff,Faithful and curious, the public strode briskly up the center aisle to pass by the bier with its cloth draping after waiting in a line that by midmorning snaked around St. Peter's Square.Filippo Tuccio, 35, came from Venice on an overnight train to view Benedict's body.
"He was very important for me: for what I am, my way of thinking, my values. This is why I wanted to say goodbye today.” “I think his main legacy was teaching us how to be free,” she said. “He had a special intelligence in saying what was essential in his faith and that was contagious” for other faithful. “The thing I thought when he died was that I would like to be as free as he was.”
“I loved Benedict, I loved him as a cardinal , when he was elected pope and also after he retired,” Butorac said. “I think he was a sort of people’s grandfather living in the Vatican.”
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Pope Francis praises Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's 'kindness'Pope Francis is set to celebrate Benedict's funeral Mass on Thursday, the first time in the modern age that a current pope will eulogize a retired one.
Read more »
Former Pope Benedict passes awayPope Emeritus Benedict XVI was the first pope in about 600 years to resign.
Read more »
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI body lying in state at VaticanPope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body is lying in state as thousands of people lined up across St. Peter’s Square before dawn to pay their respects. Public viewing will continue through Wednesday before Thursday's funeral which will be led by Pope Francis.
Read more »
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI body lying in state at VaticanPope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body is lying in state as thousands of people lined up across St. Peter’s Square hours before dawn on Monday to pay their respects
Read more »
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Begins Lying in State at VaticanPope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body is lying in state as thousands of people lined up across St. Peter’s Square hours before dawn on Monday to pay their respects.
Read more »
Tri-state region remembers Pope Emeritus Benedict XVICardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, called Benedict an 'erudite, wise, and holy man, who spoke the truth with love.'
Read more »