Benedict XVI's death rituals could be a model for future former popes

VATICAN CITY, Dec 30 (Reuters) – When Pope Gregory XII, the last pope to step down before Benedict, died in 1417, the world was not watching.

Gregory had resigned two years earlier in 1415 and spent his last days in virtual obscurity hundreds of miles from Rome. He was quietly buried in Recanati, a town near the northern Adriatic coast.

It will be very different with the death of Benedict, 95, ill, who the Vatican says is in a serious but stable condition after a sudden deterioration in his health at Christmas.

The Vatican has elaborately elaborated rituals for what happens after the death of a reigning pope, but no publicly known rituals for a former pope.

After the death of Benedict XVI, the Vatican will at least partially draft new protocols. They could be a role model for other popes who choose to step down rather than rule for life, including Pope Francis himself one day, Vatican sources say.

Those for a reigning pope include a 30-page constitution called “Universi Dominici Gregis”, Latin for “Shepherd of all the Lord’s flock” and “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis”, (funerary rites for a Roman pontiff) one more missal over 400 pages which includes liturgy, music and prayers.

These rules state that the burial of a pope must take place between four and six days after his death as part of a nine-day period of mourning known as the Novendiale.

Vatican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issues, said the scenario of Benedict XVI’s death would depend on two key elements: whether Benedict himself allowed instructions and decisions that would be made by Pope Francis.

SOLEMN GOODBYE

Francis has often praised his predecessor as a great pope who had the courage to step down, so he’d probably like to give Benedict the most solemn farewell possible, perhaps even the full set of works, a source said. Vatican official.

The last pope to die, John Paul II, was buried on April 8, 2005, six days after his death. His body was first displayed in the frescoed Clementine Room for Vatican staff, then moved to St. Peter’s Church. St. Peter’s Basilica open to the public.

Millions lined up for hours to see him, in perhaps the biggest event in Vatican history, and monarchs and presidents attended his funeral.

He was first buried in crypts beneath St. Peter’s Basilica and moved in 2011 to a chapel on the main level of Christendom’s largest church.

Many people would like to pay tribute to Benoît, who He succeeded Jean-Paul in 2005 and resigned in 2013so a period of in-state lying would be likely, the sources said.

In 2020 Benedict XVI’s authorized biographer Peter Seewald reportedly told the Bavarian newspaper Passauer Neue Presse that the pope emeritus had prepared a spiritual testament stating that he wanted to be buried in the same crypt where John Paul II was originally laid to rest. .

Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presided over John Paul’s funeral in 2005 at St. Peter’s Square and Francis is expected to preside over Benedict’s.

After the death of a reigning pope, the person in charge of ordinary affairs in the Vatican until a new pope is elected is the camerlengo, or chamberlain.

The position is currently held by Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, but since the Church has a pope and there will be no conclave to elect another, Farrell would have no role.

Most of the work, including the scripting of an event unprecedented in Vatican history, will fall to Monsignor Diego Ravelli, the papal master of ceremonies.

Reporting by Philip Pullella Editing by Tomasz Janowski

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