The consultant to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the priest Claudio Magnoli, has considered that it is «very plausible» that Francis himself will officiate the funeral ceremony of the Pope Emeritus in case of death, although he has made it clear that, for the moment, «there is no official protocol prepared» in the Vatican.
«It has been 600 years since the last time a pope resigned and there is, at least officially, no protocol prepared for the liturgical ceremony of the funeral of the Pope emeritus in the Vatican. However, it is very plausible that it will be Pope Francis who will officiate,» Magnoli stressed in an interview with Europa Press.
The resignation of Benedict XVI from the pontificate was an anomalous situation, which had not occurred since 1415, when Gregory XII stepped aside in the wake of Celestine V, the first bishop of Rome to leave the Petrine See in 1294.
According to the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, promulgated by John Paul II in 1996, after the death of a sitting Pope, it is up to the college of cardinals to determine the day, time and manner in which the body of the Pontiff will be transferred to the Vatican basilica, so that it can be exposed so that the faithful can pay him posthumous homage.
The regulations foresee that the funerals must be held for nine consecutive days, that is, with nine days of official mourning, a period which in Latin is called ‘Novendiali’. However, as Magnoli observes, «the beginning of these for the burial to take place, except for special reasons, should be between the fourth and sixth day after the death».
From the liturgical point of view, the expert points out that when the funerals are held, «basically the ritual foreseen for the funerals of the Popes will be used, since with Benedict XVI we are talking about a Pontiff.» «The difference is that in the case of the death of a Pope in office it is the dean of the cardinals who presides, that is, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re,» he added in this regard.
Another of the unknowns in the air is the possible place where the Pope Emeritus will be buried. At the time of his resignation, Benedict XVI clearly expressed his desire to return to his native Bavaria, in Germany, however, this is difficult since he lives in the Vatican.
The German journalist Peter Seewald, considered his biographer, revealed in a statement to the German newspaper ‘Passauer Neue Presse’, made in 2020 after visiting him in person at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens where he has been living since May 2013, that Benedict XVI had already drafted his will and had even chosen where his mortal remains will rest.
The place chosen, according to the German newspaper, is the former tomb of St. John Paul II in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica. A choice motivated by «how close he always felt to his predecessor,» Seewald explained. Currently, the body of St. John Paul II rests in a side chapel of the Vatican Basilica next to Michelangelo’s Pieta.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
