A crowd of faithful began this morning the last farewell to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica, where from today until Wednesday the body of Joseph Ratzinger will be exposed before the funeral that Pope Francis will lead on Thursday.
The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, and the premier of the European country, Giorgia Meloni, opened minutes before 9 locals (5 from Argentina) the long procession of faithful who seeks to say their last goodbye to the emeritus pontiff who died on Saturday at the age of 95 .
Dressed in the white papal robes and a red chasuble, the color of papal mourning, the body of Benedict XVI is exposed with a rosary in his hands, clasped at the level of the belly.
The first group of faithful to enter the Basilica were Indian theology students who arrived at St. Peter’s Square at 5:30 a.m.
With a queue that at the opening time of the Basilica already had hundreds of meters, the local authorities expect some 35,000 faithful a day, according to forecasts.
Ratzinger’s body, exposed on the central altar of the Basilica, had been transferred at 7:00 a.m. today from the Matter Ecclesia monastery, where he lived since his resignation from the pontificate in 2013 and where he passed away at 9:34 am on December 31.
“I have come to say goodbye to a wonderful Pope who paved the way for many of the things we see today come true with Francis,” Ana, a nun from the Pauline Congregation who came to greet Benedict XVI, described to Télam.
Today, tomorrow and Wednesday, the Basilica will be open until 7:00 p.m. for the farewell of the faithful to Benedict XVI, the Vatican reported.
Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Francis will lead the celebration of unprecedented funerals in the history of the Church, in which, for the first time, an acting Pope will bid farewell to an emeritus.
