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Jan. 2 (UPI) — Thousands of people from around the world began paying their final respects to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Monday as the former pontiff’s body lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Benedict’s remains, clothed in a traditional red cloak, were ceremoniously transferred to the basilica from Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City, where the former pope spent the final years of his life and died Saturday at age 95.
The pope’s head, topped by a Bishop mitre, rested on two crimson pillows as his body was carried inside the basilica on a wooden stretcher draped by fine cloth. His hands and fingers were clasped around a rosary.
A crowd of solemn faithful had already waited hours outside the basilica before the doors to the church opened at 9 a.m. Throngs of people were lined up by mid-morning. Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were among the first to view the body.
The public viewing will continue through Wednesday, and mourners will have about 12 hours each day to see the body. A Requiem Mass is planned for 9:30 a.m. Thursday in St. Peter’s Square, followed by the funeral in which Pope Francis will become the first pontiff in modern history to preside over his late predecessor.
Before his death, Pope Emeritus asked that he be given a modest funeral that reflected his life as a “humble servant in the Lord’s vineyard.”
A decade ago, Benedict shocked the world when he announced his decision to resign from the papacy, becoming the first pope in 600 years to do so.
“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said at the time.
According to a nurse who was with the pope at the time of death, Benedict uttered his last words around 3 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, saying “Lord, I love you!”
“Benedict XVI, with just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner, said in Italian: ‘Lord, I love you!’,” Benedict’s longtime secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein said. “I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterwards. These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he was no longer able to express himself.”
Benedict’s death came four days after Francis shared news of the German prelate’s worsening condition at the end of the last General Audience of the year. Italian news agency ANSA said Benedict’s condition worsened in the days before Christmas and that he had begun to suffer from respiratory problems.
Benedict was elected as the 265th Pope on April 19, 2005, following Pope John Paul II’s death. He was the oldest person to be elected Pope since 1730, and had been a Cardinal for a longer period of time than any Pope since 1724.
During his papacy, Benedict was continually confronted by the church’s child sex abuse scandals. He said in 2012 the church must make it a “top priority” to help victims who were sexually abused by clergy members.
