The former pope's funeral will be held in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, Jan. 5 and will be presided over by Pope Francis, the Vatican said. The ceremony will start at 9.30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET).
Reigning popes have elaborate funerals, but rituals streamlined after Benedict's deathPope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95. Here, he is pictured during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 26, 2006.
"With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in a statement. The Vatican has only invited official delegations from Germany and Italy to participate, underlining the fact Benedict was no longer pope and had requested a simple funeral.Pope emeritus Benedict XVI dies at age 95Benedict XVI, who led the Roman Catholic Church through a period of transformation, controversy and scandal before becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, has died. He was 95.
The governor of Benedict XVI's native German region says that "we are mourning our Bavarian pope." Bavarian governor Markus Soder said on Twitter that "many people in his homeland will remember him not just as pope, but also as a humble pastor."I am saddened to learn of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He was a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was an historic moment for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country.
Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St. John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist.Nevertheless, he set about the job with a single-minded vision to rekindle the faith in a world that, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.