I'm working at full speed on the organizational machinery relating to the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI scheduled for tomorrow (January 5) in St. Peter's Square. In these days the body of the Pope emeritus, displayed in the Basilica of St. Peter's, was visited by about 135 faithful.
Funeral of the Pope Emeritus
Pope Francis will preside over the funeral rite; for the first time in history a pope will celebrate the funeral mass for another pope. After the funeral, Benedict XVI will be buried in the Vatican grottoes; inside the coffin he will have the coins and medals minted during his pontificate and the pallia, or the liturgical vestments he had during his ecclesiastical career. This was announced by the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, during a briefing with international journalists in view of the funeral of the emeritus pope. Furthermore, the deed will also be inserted in the coffin, a written text describing the pontificate which is placed in a metal cylinder inside the coffin.
The security apparatus set up by the prefecture of Rome is impressive. In the field there will be a thousand agents who will intensify the control operations of the tens of thousands of faithful and tourists expected for the funeral rite. The first international delegations and prominent personalities who will take part in the papal funeral have already arrived in Rome. With a scheduled flight from Istanbul, he arrived at Fiumicino airport on Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Ignatius Youssef III Younan. The delegation also includes a archbishop of Baghdad and one of Aleppo. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung is expected in the capital from South Korea, Metropolitan Archbishop Emeritus of Seoul.
Crowned heads and heads of state
From the royals of Belgium to the presidents of Hungary and Poland, there will be many political figures who will take part in the funeral of Pope ratzinger. These are participations "in a personal capacity", as confirmed by the press office of the Holy See, since the only official delegations envisaged by the ceremonial are the Italian and the German ones, led by Sergio Mattarella and Frank Walter Steinmeier. At the moment to have confirmed their presence are the mother of King of Spain, Queen Sofia, King and Queen of Belgium, Philip and Mathilde. And, again, the Polish president Andrzej Duda, the Portuguese one Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa, the Hungarian one Katalin Novak and the governor of Bavaria Markus Söder. The list is obviously temporary and is inevitably destined to grow in the next few hours.
