Pope's historic funeral

St Peter's Square at the Vatican filled with mourners paying their last respects to Pope Benedict XVI. He passed away on 31 December 2022 at the age of 95. The former pontiff's funeral mass was conducted by his successor, Pope Francis, a rare occurrence last seen over two hundred years ago.

A group of bishops, the College of Cardinals, generally only meet to elect the new pope following the previous pope's passing. However, Benedict XVI stunned the world in 2013 by stepping down as leader of the Catholic communion. He'd concluded that he no longer had 'the strength of mind or body' for the role, a decision which inspired the 2019 film 'The Two Popes'. Following his resignation, Benedict became Pope Emeritus and resided in a monastery in the Vatican.

Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927 and the first German pope in a millennium, was elected pope in 2005. Although he had not held the papacy for close to a decade, royalty and presidents from around the world attended. They joined the 50,000 people in St Peter's Square to pay their respects. Meanwhile, many of the Catholic church's 1.3 billion followers watched the live broadcast from their homes.

The multilingual service followed traditional papal funerals, with minor changes to prayers and readings to reflect Benedict's status as emeritus pope. The final blessing was given by Pope Francis, who is himself 86 years old. The coffin was then carried to be interred in the crypt of the St Peter's Basilica, the centrepiece of the Vatican.

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