Pope Francis is to address the Catholic faithful on Sunday at the Vatican, the day after the death at 95 of his predecessor Benedict XVI, whose funeral he will celebrate on Thursday.
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The Argentine pontiff will speak at 12 p.m. (11 a.m. GMT) for the weekly Angelus prayer in front of the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, and is expected to salute the memory of Joseph Ratzinger.
Brilliant theologian and fervent guardian of dogma, the latter, who had announced that he would give up his charge in 2013 because of his declining strength, died on Saturday at the age of 95 in the monastery where he had retired, in the heart of the Vatican gardens.
A few hours after the announcement of his death, François paid a first tribute to his predecessor, greeting a “person so noble, so kind”. “We feel so much gratitude in our hearts,” he said.
He will celebrate Thursday morning the funeral of the first German pope in modern history – who was head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013 – an unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church in which thousands of devotees should attend.
On Saturday, the Catholics present in the Vatican expressed their sadness. “It is a great pain. He was a very reserved person, but we perceived his depth and he did a lot for the Church”, testified for AFP Milo Cecchetto, a Roman present in Saint Peter’s Square.
The faithful will be able to gather from Monday morning in front of the body of Joseph Ratzinger, which will be exposed under the gold of Saint Peter’s Basilica before being buried in a crypt after his funeral.
“Courage”
From United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to French Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin, tributes from leaders around the world poured in on Saturday.
“He will be remembered as a distinguished theologian, guided by his principles and his faith, and whose entire life was dedicated to his devotion to the Church,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
In his native village in Germany, Marktl, the flag of the town hall was lowered, as on all public buildings in Bavaria. Karl Michael Nuck, a 55-year-old resident, said his death was “undoubtedly a deliverance for him”, recalling that he had “the courage to resign”.
His death puts an end to the unusual cohabitation of two men in white: on the one hand the German Joseph Ratzinger, a brilliant theologian not very comfortable with crowds, on the other the Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, a Jesuit endowed with an incisive word that wanted to put the poor and migrants back at the center of the Church’s mission.
After his eight years of a pontificate marked by multiple crises, Benedict XVI had been caught up in early 2022 by the drama of pedocrime in the Church. Questioned by a report in Germany on his management of sexual violence when he was Archbishop of Munich, he broke his silence to ask for “pardon”, but had assured that he had never covered a child criminal.
HIV and Vatileaks
With this decision, unprecedented in six centuries, the first German pope in modern history paved the way for his successors whose strength would come to decline. Francois, 86, and suffering from knee pain, left the possibility “open” himself.
Born in 1927, Joseph Ratzinger taught theology for 25 years in Germany before being appointed Archbishop of Munich.
He then became the strict guardian of the dogma of the Church for another quarter of a century in Rome at the head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, then pope for eight years, succeeding John Paul II.
Last pope to have participated in the Second Vatican Council, he however defended a conservative line at the head of the Church, in particular on abortion, homosexuality or euthanasia.
His statements have sometimes shocked, such as on Islam or the use of condoms against HIV.
His pontificate was also marked in 2012 by the leak of confidential documents (“Vatileaks”) orchestrated by his butler. The scandal had exposed a Roman Curia (Vatican government) plagued by intrigue and devoid of financial rigor.