John Adoyi, PBA Journalism Mentee
In what has been termed ‘unprecedented’ in history, a living Pope, Francis, will be in charge of the funeral mass of late Pope Benedict the XVI who died on December 31st 2022.
Vatican authorities announced on Saturday that Pope Francis 85 will be in charge of the funeral mass which will take place by 9:30 A.M. on Thursday January 5, 2023, in Saint Peter’s Square.
Usually in the Catholic Church tradition, when the Pope dies, there is a formal procedure that is followed.
The Pope’s Chief of staff also known as Camerlengo, or Chamberlain is in charge of the entire process which includes:
Certifying his death, arranging for the body to lie in state, organising a funeral and preparing for the election of a successor.
But this case is different in the sense that Pope Benedict the 16th resigned as a Pope in 2013 paving the way for a new Pope which ushered in the era of Pope Francis.
This simply means history was bound to happen for a living Pope to bury his predecessor.
The last Pope to step down was Gregory XII who died far a way from Rome in 1417. He was not given the normal Papal burial rites.
The death of Benedict the 16th will bring in new procedures and protocols for the Church authorities to follow in saying farewell to a formal Pope that will be buried by his successor.
The body of Pope Benedict will be lying in state from Monday January 2 in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome for many to bid their farewell.
In accordance with his wish, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict’s burial “will be carried out under the sign of simplicity,” Matteo Bruni, Vatican’s spokesman said.
