VATICAN (CNS): Pope Benedict XVI “spread and testified to” the gospel his entire life, Pope Francis told tens of thousands of people gathered on January 5 for his predecessor’s funeral Mass.
“Like the women at the tomb, we too have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope, in order to show him once more the love that is undying. We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years,” Pope Francis said in his homily.
The Mass in St. Peter’s Square was the first time in more than 200 years that a pope celebrated the funeral of his predecessor. Pope Pius VII had celebrated the funeral of Pius VI in 1802 when his remains were returned to Rome after he died in exile in France in 1799.
Pope Benedict, who had retired in 2013, had requested his funeral be simple; the only heads of state invited to lead delegations were those of Italy and his native Germany.
However, many dignitaries—including Queen Sofia of Spain and King Philippe of Belgium— and presidents and government ministers representing more than a dozen nations were in attendance, as were most of the ambassadors to the Holy See.
An estimated 50,000 people filled the square for the Mass, and a number of visitors said that banners and flags were being confiscated by security upon entrance
Members of the College of Cardinals, including Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, sat on one side of the casket, while, on the other side, were special guests, including the late pope’s closest collaborators and representatives of the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and US evangelical communities. Jewish and Muslim organisations also sent delegations.
Pope Francis presided over the Mass and Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, was the main celebrant at the altar. Some 120 cardinals, another 400 bishops and 3,700 priests concelebrated. More than 1,000 journalists, photographers and camera operators from around the world were accredited to cover the funeral in St. Peter’s Square.
An estimated 50,000 people filled the square for the Mass, and a number of visitors said that banners and flags were being confiscated by security upon entrance. Of the few that did make it past security was a white cloth with “Santo Subito” [Sainthood Now] written in red and a “Thank you, Pope Benedict” written in light blue in German.
Just as Pope Benedict dedicated his pontificate to directing the faithful’s focus to the person of Christ, Pope Francis dedicated his homily to Christ’s loving devotion and suffering witness as the “invitation and the programme of life that he quietly inspires in us,” rather than on a summary of his predecessor’s life.
Pope Francis spoke of Jesus’ grateful, prayerful and sustained devotion to God’s will and how Jesus’ final words on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” summed up his entire life, “a ceaseless self-entrustment into the hands of his Father.”
Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence
The pope said, “His were hands of forgiveness and compassion, healing and mercy, anointing and blessing, which led him also to entrust himself into the hands of his brothers and sisters.”
He said, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit” is the plan for life that Jesus quietly invites and inspires people to follow.
However, he said, the path requires sustained and prayerful devotion that is “silently shaped and refined amid the challenges and resistance that every pastor must face in trusting obedience to the Lord’s command to feed his flock.”
The pope said, “Like the Master, a shepherd bears the burden of interceding and the strain of anointing his people, especially in situations where goodness must struggle to prevail and the dignity of our brothers and sisters is threatened.”
He continued, “The Lord quietly bestows the spirit of meekness that is ready to understand, accept, hope and risk, notwithstanding any misunderstandings that might result. It is the source of an unseen and elusive fruitfulness, born of his knowing the One in whom he has placed his trust.” he said.
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
Quoting Pope Benedict’s homily marking the start of his pontificate on 24 April 2005, Pope Francis said, “Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence.”
He said of the late pope emeritus, “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 declared, “God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompany and entrust to him the life of the one who was their pastor. Together, we want to say, ‘Father, into your hands we commend his spirit..”
As the crowd prayed in silence, Pope Francis concluded, “Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!”
As the day began, the thick morning fog obscuring the cupola slowly began to lift as 12 laypeople emerged from the basilica carrying the pope’s casket. The crowd applauded as the cypress casket was brought into the square and placed before the altar.
Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!
The pope’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, and Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the late pope’s longtime personal secretary, together placed an opened Book of the Gospels on the casket. The simple casket was decorated with his coat of arms as archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany, which depicts a shell, a Moor and a bear loaded with a pack on his back.
The Bible readings at the Mass were in Spanish, English and Italian, and the prayers of the faithful at the Mass were recited in German, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Italian.
The prayers included petitions for “Pope Emeritus Benedict, who has fallen asleep in the Lord: may the eternal Shepherd receive him into his kingdom of light and peace,” followed by a prayer “for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and for all the pastors of the Church: may they proclaim fearlessly, in word and deed, Christ’s victory over evil and death.”
The other prayers were for justice and peace in the world, for those suffering from poverty and other forms of need, and for those gathered at the funeral.
Pope Francis prayed that God have mercy on his predecessor, who was “a fearless preacher of your word and a faithful minister of the divine mysteries.”
While the funeral was based on the model of a papal funeral, two key elements normally part of a papal funeral following the farewell prayer were missing: there were no prayers offered by representatives of the Diocese of Rome and of the Eastern Catholic Churches, since those prayers are specific to the death of a reigning pope.
A bell tolled solemnly and the assembly applauded for several minutes—with some chanting “Benedetto”—as the pallbearers carried the casket toward St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis blessed the casket and laid his right hand on it in prayer, then bowed slightly in reverence before it was taken inside for a private burial in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the same tomb that held the remains of Pope St. John Paul II before his beatification.
