The security of the Italian capital was reinforced on the occasion of the funeral chapel and the funeral of the pontiff emeritus Benedict XVI, with the presence of more than a thousand agents of the forces of order and the closure of the airspace in the Plaza de San Pedro during the funeral that Pope Francis will preside next Thursday.

thousands of faithful They got up early this Monday to file past the body of Benedict XVI, in the burning chapel installed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to greet the pontiff emeritus, who died on Saturday at the age of 95.

The long line reached the immense Piazza San Pietro and surrounded the famous columns of Bernini, watched over by an important safety device and also by hundreds of journalists from all over the world who came to cover the pope’s funeral.

“I’ve been here since six in the morning, it seemed normal to me to come and pay homage to the Pope after all he has done for the Church,” said Italian nun Anna Maria.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI at his funeral at the Vatican.

Joseph Ratzinger died on New Year’s Eve nearly a decade after he retired due to ill health.

Francis will preside over the funeral

Pope Francis will preside over the funeral on Thursdaythe first time a Pope will be buried by his successor.

As dawn broke over the Vatican, a queue was already forming at the edge of St. Peter’s Square. The way was paved by Father Alfredo Elnar, 30, from the Philippines. He said he had studied and admired the theological writings of the former pontiff, and he spoke about them a void from his death.

A little further back, Sister Marianna Patricevic, a Croatian nun, spoke of how grateful she was for all that the late Pope had done, saying there was no subject she studied in university where they did not discuss their points of view view.

Father Richard Kunst, visiting from the United States, said that when he passes by the pope’s body, he will pray for him, but also for a miracle to help a friend return home who is dying of cancer.

Benedict XVI became the first Pope surrender in 600 years, modernize the papacy, an institution in which the Pope until then had to “lead” until his death. Ratzinger changed that.

His body will be on display for three days in an open casket in St. Peter’s Basilica, and people will be able to pay their respects until seven each evening.

The remains of the first German pontiff of the modern era were moved at dawn from the small private chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae Monasterywhere he lived after his resignation in 2013, in the Vatican gardens at the basilica during a private ceremony, the Vatican press office said.

The doors of the immense basilica opened at 8 in the morning, 5 in Buenos Aires.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays it will be possible to access early, from 6 in the morning so that the faithful can watch over Joseph Ratzinger, the brilliant theologian and fervent guardian of dogmaknown for his conservative positions.

Free access

Access It is free and without the need to book an appointmentthe Vatican specified.

Pope Francis paid various public tributes to the “beloved” Benedict XVI, “faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church”, recalling his “goodness”, “his nobility”, “his testimony of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of life in retirement”.

In the images released on Sunday by the Vatican, the deceased can be seen lying on a catafalque, dressed in white with a red chasuble, the color of papal mourning, with a white miter decorated with a gold border and a woven rosary in his hands.

The catafalque was at the center of a small private chapel of the monastery, a particularly sober place, with a crucifix, a Christmas tree and a nativity scene, which contrasts with the imposing spaces and Baroque altars of St. Peter’s Basilica where it was veiled. this monday.

The funeral of a pope emeritus

The funerals of a pope emeritus, i.e. without functions, therefore do not have a specific protocol certain steps for a practicing pontiff would have been followed.

Thursday’s ceremony will begin at 5:30 in the morning Buenos Aires time, will be unprecedented as well as solemn, as announced by the Vatican.

End of the saga of the two popes

with that act The saga of the “two popes” is overboth dressed in white, who have lived together for almost a decade in the smallest state in the world.

In 2005 the body of John Paul II, the last pope to die, was exhibited in the Vatican to receive the homage of numerous heads of state and government, as well as the faithful who stood in long queues for hours.

One million people attended the funeral of the charismatic Polish pope. Despite the popularity of Benedict XVI never reached that of John Paul II, the German pontiff, who reigned from 2005 to 2013, was a head of state and, as such, high dignitaries and faithful will pay homage to him.

At the end of the funeral, the coffin of the pontiff emeritus he will be buried in the Vatican grottoesbelow St. Peter’s, where the tombs of the popes are located, the Vatican said in a statement.

AFP and BBC News

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