Funeral for Former Pontiff underway at St. Peter’s Square

By Newsroom

5^th Jan 2022

Tens of thousands of people have gathered at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The funeral Mass has started led by Pope Francis in a simple way as requested by the deceased Pope. It is unprecedented in modern times for a living Pope to bury his predecessor

Pope Benedict XVI died on Saturday aged 95 after many years of illness

Benedict XVI became the first Pope to resign in 600 years in 2013, when he stepped down citing old age.

He has been lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica and his funeral will be similar to that of a reigning Pope.

Benedict will be buried in the crypt under St Peter’s Basilica where Pope John Paul II was originally interred in 2005 before his body was moved up to a chapel.

There are official delegations from Italy and from former Pope Benedict’s home country of Germany. Other leaders include the king and queen of Belgium who are attending in a private capacity.

Some 70,000 people queued up to pay their respects to the former pope on Tuesday, following 65,000 a day earlier.

Around 200,000 people in total are believed to have seen the former Pope’s coffin.

Catholic Dioceses and Parishes worldwide are also taking requiem masses to pray for the deposed soul of Pope Benedict XVI.