Members of the public waited for hours to pay their respects to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as his body lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica.
At dawn, 10 white-gloved Papal Knights, lay attendants of pontiffs and papal houses, carried the body on a cloth-covered wooden stretcher down the central aisle of the gigantic basilica to its resting place in front of the main altar under the tower of Bernini. bronze canopy.
According to The Associated Press, a Swiss guard waved as the body was brought in through a side door after the remains of Benedict XVI, placed in a van, were moved from the chapel on the monastery grounds where the late pontiff died at the age 95 years old. Saturday morning.
People wait in line to enter St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be buried in the Vatican, Monday, January 2, 2023.
(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Thousands of people braved the wet weather to view Benedict’s body. The line of people meandered around St. Peter’s Square.
Around 25,000 people are expected to pass through the body on the first day of viewing.
POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI DEATH AT 95, SAYS THE VATICAN
The public display lasts 10 hours on Monday at St. Peter’s Basilica. Twelve hours of wake are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday morning’s funeral, which will be presided over by Pope Francis, in St. Peter’s Square.
FILE- Pope Francis greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a mass to create 20 new cardinals during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on February 14, 2015.
(Reuters/Tony Gentile/File Photo)
The service will be open to the public and the Vatican has provided contacts for Catholics around the world wishing to concelebrate the mass remotely.
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Benedict was elected to the papacy in 2005. He later claimed that he prayed that he would not be elected during the conclave, but was forced to accept what he believed to be God calls you to greater service.
In February 2013, at the age of 85, Benedict became the first Pope in 600 years in resign.
People look at the body of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI inside St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Monday, January 2, 2023.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
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“I have come to the certainty that my strength, due to advanced age, is no longer adequate for adequate exercise [of the pontificate]”, he said at the time.
On June 29, 2021, Benedict celebrated the Platinum Jubilee, 70th anniversary, of his ordination at the priesthood.
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.
