This was the funeral of Benedict XVI

Nearly 50,000 people attended the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Thursday, a figure below the first estimates. Despite the low temperatures and in the middle of the night, the believers spent the night in the surroundings of the Vatican to be the first to enter St. Peter’s Square.

After the funeral mass, the coffin with the mortal remains of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was transferred from Saint Peter’s Square to the Vatican caves, where he was buried.

After the arrival of the remains, a a private ceremony before those closest to the pontiff. A notary of the Chapter of the Vatican Basilica will draw up the burial certificate and read it before those present.

Several personalities were present at the ceremony, such as Queen Emeritus Sofía of Spain; the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni; the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, among others.

Pope Francis highlighted the work of the German Benedict XVI at the head of the Church since 2005, replacing John Paul II, until 2013, when he resigned. The Argentine pontiff presided overin what is almost an unprecedented circumstance in the history of the Catholic Church, the funeral of his predecessor, who died on December 31 at the age of 95, after almost ten years since his resignation from the pontificate

“We too, clinging to the last words of the Lord and to the testimony that marked his life, want, as an ecclesial community, follow in his footsteps and trust our brother in the hands of the Father: may these hands of mercy find their lamp lit with the oil of the Gospel, which he spread and witnessed during his life”, Francis said.

Inside the coffin have also been introduced the coins minted during his pontificate, the parchment with a brief account of the eight years of his pontificate and the canopies that he wore as archbishop of Munich and Rome. (YO)