Status: 03.01.2023 6:10 p.m
The top German heads of state will attend the funeral of Benedict XVI. travel to Rome – led by Federal President Steinmeier and Chancellor Scholz. The funeral service is scheduled for Thursday at the Vatican.
Preparations are underway in Rome for the funeral service for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. on Thursday. Led by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Germany will take part in the celebration with the heads of the highest constitutional bodies.
The Chancellor agreed to attend the public requiem for the Pope Emeritus in St. Peter’s Square, a government spokesman confirmed. The funeral service for the former pope from Germany will take place on Thursday at 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican.
Delegation of all constitutional bodies
Shortly after Benedict’s death, Steinmeier announced that he would be attending the fair on New Year’s Eve. The Office of the Federal President has now confirmed that he will be accompanied by a delegation from all constitutional bodies. These include the Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD), Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) as President of the Bundesrat and Stephan Harbarth, the head of the Federal Constitutional Court.
A delegation led by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) with representatives from politics, society and the church comes from Benedict’s homeland of Bavaria – some of them will travel to Rome in a charter plane.
Biographer: Strong relationship with Bayern
According to his biographer Peter Seewald, Benedict would have preferred Bavarians as mourners. While there was always crunching between Benedict and the German bishops and “there were cross shots from this corner during the pontificate and afterwards that were completely incomprehensible,” Benedict’s relationship with Bavaria was “incredibly strong and unbroken right up to the end,” said Seewald the dpa news agency.
Papa Emeritus, who died on New Year’s Eve, was again publicly laid out in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday. Unlike on Monday, there were no longer long queues in front of the admission controls and the doors of the basilica. At noon, the Vatican gendarmerie registered around 25,000 visitors.
A burial like a pope – with small changes
The Holy See has now also announced further details of the funeral service and burial on Thursday. Although Benedict was no longer the incumbent pontiff, he would have a ceremony and a burial like a pope, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists. There are small changes compared to the usual ceremony. Among other things, prayers that are actually intended for a conclave at the celebration will be dispensed with. And there will be no papal election because Francis remains in office as pontiff.
Resting place in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica
Benedikt’s body should be placed in a coffin made of cypress wood on Wednesday evening. Benedict will then no longer be seen at the funeral service on St. Peter’s Square. Francis will preside over the fair, as Bruni explained. Because the 86-year-old is still suffering from knee pain, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will celebrate the church celebration at the altar – he is 88 years old. But Francis will preach.
After the service, the coffin is carried into St. Peter’s Basilica. In camera, he is then lifted into a zinc box, which is finally placed in his future resting place in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica.
While the Requiem is being celebrated in Rome, the bells are to ring for Benedict in Germany: The German Bishops’ Conference recommended that the 27 Catholic dioceses allow a funeral bell to be rung around 11 a.m. nationwide.