The area around St Peter’s Square and the basilica in Rome will become a restricted-access red zone on Thursday during the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said today.
From midnight today until 2 p.m. Thursday, the day of the funeral, access to the area is only allowed through the gates controlled by the authorities and the sale and consumption of beverages in bottles or glass containers is prohibited. funeral ceremony.
Italy will fly its flags at half-mast as a sign of mourning during the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, which will be led by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, in front of thousands of faithful and Italian and European authorities.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni today ordered the country’s and the European Union’s flags to be flown at half-mast on all public buildings in the country.
The body of Ratzinger, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 95, has stood in St. Peter’s Basilica for three days and was visited by some 160,000 worshipers to pay their last respects.
His funeral will be attended by about 60,000 people and then Benedict XVI will be buried in the Vatican crypt where his predecessor, John Paul II, was until 2011.
The Vatican will not declare a “novendia,” the nine-day period of mourning that traditionally follows the death of a pope, because a pope is in office.
Source: DN
