Mourners pour into the Vatican to attend Pope Benedict's funeral
Mourners poured into St. Peter’s Square early Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, hoping to pay final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and participate in a rare requiem Mass for a dead pope presided over by a living one.
Thick fog enshrouded the Vatican before dawn as civil protection crews and police manned metal detectors and barricades to herd well-wishers into the square. Police estimated some 100,000 would attend, higher than an original estimate of 60,000, Italian media reported, citing police security plans.
Pop Francis is due to preside over the funeral, an event drawing heads of state and royalty despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key. Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella confirmed their participation.
But other heads of state and government decided to take the Vatican up on its offer and come in their “private capacity.” They included several other heads of state, at least four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives.
The funeral rite calls for Benedict’s coffin to be carried out from the basilica and placed before the altar as the faithful recite the rosary. The ritual itself is modeled on the code used for dead popes but with some modifications given Benedict was not a reigning pope when he died.
After the Mass, Benedict’s cypress coffin is to be placed inside a zinc one, then an outer oak casket before being entombed in the crypt in the grottos underneath the basilica that once held the tomb of St. John Paul II before it was moved
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