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Pope Francis prayed for the journey to heaven of his ancestors and thanked him again for his lifetime of service to the church, during a New Year’s appearance a day after Pope emeritus Benedict XVI died in retirement at the Vatican.
St. Peter’s Basilica, where Francis led the mid-morning mass, will host Benedict’s casket from Monday. Thousands of faithful will be filed in the coffin during the three-day viewing.
Benedict, 95, died on Saturday morning at the Vatican monastery where he had lived since retirement. He was the first pope in centuries to resign, citing weakness.
On Sunday, Benedict’s body was laid to rest in a burgundy-colored chapel in the monastery’s chapel. He wears a miter, a bishop’s headdress, and a red robe-like robe. In his hand was a rosary.
Francis looked tired and sat with his head bowed as mass began on the first day of the year, an event the Catholic Church dedicates to the theme of peace.
He left briefly from reading his homily, with its emphasis on hope and peace, to pray aloud for Benedict.
“Today we entrust to our beloved Mother Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, so that she may accompany him from this world to God,” he said.
Later, Francis spoke more about the retired Pope as he greeted the thousands gathered in St. Paul’s Square for the New Year.
Referring to Mary, Francis said that “in that hour, we ask for her intercession, especially for Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, who, yesterday morning, left the world.”
“Let us unite all together, with one heart and one soul, thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and the Church,” said Francis, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace to pilgrims and tourists. below.
The square will be the site of Benedict’s funeral which Francis will lead on Thursday morning. The rite will be simple, the Vatican said, in keeping with the wishes of Benedict, who for decades as a German cardinal was the guardian of the Church’s doctrinal orthodoxy before he was elected pope in 2005.
In recent years, Francis has praised Benedict’s surprising decision to become the first pope to resign in 600 years and has made it clear that he will consider the move a personal choice.
With knee pain, Francis, 86, on Sunday arrived at the basilica in a wheelchair, before taking his seat for Mass, which was celebrated by the Vatican secretary of state.
Francis, who has repeatedly decried the war in Ukraine and its destruction, remembers those who are victims of war, through the last holiday of the year in darkness, cold and fear.
Francis called the war ‘intolerable’ in Ukraine
“At the beginning of this year, we need hope, just as the Earth needs rain,” Francis said in his homily.
When addressing the faithful at St. Peter’s Square, Francis called the war “intolerable” in Ukraine, which began in February last year with the attack and invasion of Russia, and conflicts elsewhere in the world.
Still, Francis said, “don’t lose hope” that peace will last. “In the whole world, in all nations, the cry is rising, ‘no to war, no to re-armament’ but [may] resources to development, health, food, education, work.”
Benedict XVI, who led the Roman Catholic Church through a period of transformation, controversy and scandal before becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died. He is 95 years old.
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