The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, was one of the first people to attend the wake of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, which began on Monday in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
According to the Europa Press news agency, the Italian prime minister was one of the first people to enter St.
On Saturday, after the announcement of the death of Benedict XVI at the age of 95, Giorgia Meloni lamented the disappearance of the pope emeritus, whom she defined as “a giant of faith and reason” and a great man who “History does not will forget” through the ages
Thousands of people were already waiting since dawn to pay their last respects to the pope emeritus in Saint Peter’s Basilica, in the presence of numerous media and an important security device.
“I arrived at 06:00 in the morning, it seemed normal to come to honor him after all he has done for the Church,” Italian nun Anna-Maria told Agence France Presse (AFP). .
“[Bento XVI] he was a great Pope, profound and unique,” Francesca Gabrielli, who came especially from Tuscany to pay this final tribute to the pope emeritus, also told AFP, stressing that she was pleased with “the serene atmosphere” that reigned in the basilica.
The body of Benedict XVI was placed in the central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica, in front of the so-called confession altar, next to Bernini’s famous canopy.
The remains of Benedict XVI were transferred from the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, in the Vatican Gardens, where the emeritus pope had lived since 2013, to Saint Peter’s Basilica.
The funeral of Benedict XVI will take place on Thursday, in Saint Peter’s Square, in the Vatican, at 9:30 am local time (8:30 am in Lisbon), in a celebration presided over by Pope Francis.
The government and presidency delegations of Italy and Germany will officially participate in the ceremony.
According to Europa Press, the ambassadors to the Holy See were officially invited to the funeral mass. If any Head of State or Government wants to attend Benedict XVI’s funeral, he can do so, but in a personal capacity.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already expressed his intention to be present at the funeral of Benedict XVI.
Security in Rome was reinforced for the funeral of Benedict XVI, with the presence of more than 1,000 police officers and the closure of the airspace in Saint Peter’s Square for the funeral.
According to local authorities, 35,000 people are expected to attend the wake of the pope emeritus and another 60,000 at the funeral.
In addition, and during the funeral ceremonies, several mobile medical units and ambulances will be deployed, as well as 500 Civil Protection volunteers who will report on queues and waiting times.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI shook the Church when he resigned his pontificate for health reasons on February 11, 2013, two months before his eighth year in office.
Joseph Ratzinger, who was Pope between 2005 and 2013, was born in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, in the German diocese of Passau, becoming the first German to lead the Catholic Church in many centuries and a representative of the most dogmatic line of the Church. .
The sexual abuse of minors by priests and the “Vatileaks”, in which case confidential papal documents were revealed, were issues that stirred his pontificate.
Benedict XVI called the abuses a “heinous crime” and apologized to the victims.
Source: TSF
