Tens of thousands of Catholics traveled to St. Peter’s Square Thursday morning to pay their respects to Pope Benedict XVI, who passed away on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95.
Pope Francis began the ceremony with a prayer for Pope Benedict which was followed by singing from the Sistine Chapel Choir.
“God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompanies and entrusts to him the life of the one who was their pastor. 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,” Francis said during his sermon.
Benedict became the first pontiff in nearly six centuries to resign from his post, citing old age. Prior to becoming pope in 2005, Joseph Ratzinger served as archbishop of Munich and later as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.
Ratzinger was particularly concerned with fighting sexual abuse within the Church.
Benedict became the first pope to meet with victims of sexual assault and upon becoming pope wrote the first pastoral letter from a sitting pontiff about addressing the issue following a spate of abuse scandals in Ireland, the New York Times noted. Benedict also defrocked a Mexican reverend and serial abuser, Marcial Maciel Degollado, in 2010.
Pope Francis bid an emotional farewell to his predecessor, former Pope Benedict, at his funeral in St. Peter's Square. https://t.co/wAzHMs0uDL pic.twitter.com/HDgjhhj6CI
— ABC News (@ABC) January 5, 2023
However, critics of Benedict insist that the pope could have done more to prevent ongoing abuse. As archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Ratzinger ended a trial of an American priest who molested hundreds of deaf boys citing the priest’s repentance.
The funeral ceremony Thursday was scaled down to reflect Benedict’s status. Whereas the funeral of Pope John Paul II drew an estimated 1.1 million mourners, only 50,000 people were in attendance Thursday morning, Vatican sources report.
“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,” Pope Francis said in closing.
The funeral procession marked the first modern occasion when a sitting pope presided over a funeral for a “pope emeritus.” Benedict will be buried in the crypt beneath St. Peter’s Basilica alongside the tombs of dozens of papal predecessors.