The funeral of Pope Benedict is now underway in Vatican City’s vast St Peter’s Square, with Pope Francis presiding over the Mass, which will see readings in German, Italian, Arabic, Portuguese and French.
Pope Francis, who will be presiding over the funeral of his predecessor Benedict, has arrived in St Peter’s Square.
He was brought to the dais in a wheelchair.
According to the Reuters news agency, a prayer will be said that includes petitions to God for the late Benedict as well as Pope Francis.
In a prayer read in Latin, Pope Francis asks that Benedict may be welcomed by God into eternal glory.
There then follows a reading from the prophet Isaiah:
“The Lord says this: ‘Is the potter no better than the clay? Can something that was made say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’? Or a pot say of the potter, ‘He is a fool’? In a short time, a very short time, shall not Lebanon become fertile land and fertile land turn into a forest? The deaf, that day, will hear the words of a book and, after shadow and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see. But the lowly will rejoice in the Lord even more and the poorest exult in the Holy One of Israel.”
Pope Francis reads the Homily for his predecessor.
It contains a number of citations previously given by Pope Benedict.
He ends with: “Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever.”
There is then a pause to reflect on the Pope’s words.
Having heard the current Pope’s homily, the funeral Mass moves on to the Eucharist – the part of the service where bread and wine is shared which symbolises the body and blood of Christ.
The Eucharist Prayer ends with this:
“Remember your servant Pope Emeritus Benedict whom you have called from this world to yourself. Grant that he who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection, when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died, and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body. To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.”
Benedict leaves a complicated legacy
As the Mass moves on to the third eucharistic prayer, we’ve been hearing from BBC religion editor Aleem Maqbool, who is in Vatican City.
He says there is no question that Benedict leaves a complicated legacy for a lot of people.
While many young priests and nuns see him as a ground-breaking thinker and theologian, his approach to the papacy was rigid.
“He thought he would stem this tide as he saw it away from Christianity in Europe by saying ‘look this is who we are, things are black and white, some things can’t change.”
While Benedict gained support among more conservative church members for his strong views, he also faced criticism for failing to deal with abuse allegations against certain members of the clergy.
Pope Francis says the faithful have come together to show undying love
While communion is taking place we can bring you more of the Pope’s words from his Homily for Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis used Jesus’ last words throughout the homily: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”.
He said that worshippers would wish to do the same for Benedict, saying: “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.”
The Pope said that the crowds had come to entrust Benedict’s life to God, and to show undying love.
He finished by saying: “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.”
It’s a cold, misty morning in Rome as thousands of priests, nuns and other delegates sit in St Peter’s Square for the three-hour funeral ceremony.
For the past few days many have told us of their admiration of the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, as a thinker and a theologian as around 200,000 queued to see his body lying in state.
But early this morning as we walked to our position on a roof high above St Peter’s Square, it’s clear this funeral is not on the same scale as the last papal funeral, of John Paul II, in 2005.
Then more than three million people came to Rome for the funeral, with 500,000 attending the ceremony and hundreds of thousands more watching on screens around the city.
The context now is different. Benedict was not a sitting Pope when he died, unlike his close friend John Paul II.
But Benedict was also not viewed with the same affection as his predecessor. He was a scholar and much admired for his writings. But Benedict lacked charisma and did not have the same rock star appeal of John Paul II and that is reflected in the smaller crowds in attendance here.
The public funeral Mass is drawing to a close ahead of the burial.
Benedict XVI’s body will now be returned to St Peter’s Basilica for a private service. Here it will be placed inside a zinc coffin before going into a larger wooden coffin.
Benedict will then be buried in a vast underground graveyard or crypt beneath the basilica, known as the Vatican Grottoes, which houses the tombs of several popes.
His remains will be placed in what used to be Pope John Paul II’s resting place before his body was moved after he was beatified in 2011.
Towards the end of the service, Pope Francis will sprinkle holy water on the coffin and light incense.
And he will recite the “Final Commendation and Farewell”, asking God to “console the Church”.
He will say: “Gracious Father, we commend to your mercy Pope Emeritus Benedict, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of the Church, a fearless preacher of your word and a faithful minister of the divine mysteries.”
That will be said in Latin and a choir will also sing in Latin: “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you into the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”
Source: BBC
