The last words of pope emeritus Benedict 16 were pronounced around 3 am this Saturday (31), a few hours before his death: “Lord, I love you”, spoken in Italian. The information was released by Vatican News, the Holy See’s news portal.
Benedict 16 died this Saturday (31), aged 95, in a monastery where he lived in the Vatican, at 9:34 am (5:34 am by Brasília time) according to a note from the Catholic Church. On the last day 28, Pope Francis had asked for prayers, saying that his predecessor was very sick. The last known images of him are from a Ratzinger Foundation event on the 1st, in which he appears seated, demonstrating fragility.
The pope emeritus’ nurse overheard the words and later informed Bishop Georg Gänswein. “Those were his last understandable words. Afterwards, he was no longer able to express himself,” said the religious.
A group of cardinals prayed this Sunday (1st) before the body of Joseph Ratzinger, according to a photo published on social networks. Benedict XVI was also remembered in a speech by Pope Francis in front of the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, which then observed a minute of silence.
“Today we entrust to the Blessed Mother the beloved pope emeritus Benedict XVI to accompany him on his passage from this world to God,” Francis said at New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
This Monday (2), faithful will be able to say goodbye to the pope emeritus in the Vatican Basilica. The Vatican announced that the funeral will take place on January 5, in a ceremony presided over by Francis in St. Peter’s Square.
According to the Associated Press news agency, Catholic Church observers believe that Benedict’s funeral rites will be similar to those of a retired bishop of Rome, and the burial should be in one of the Vatican caves, where the bodies of others are buried. leaders.
Benedict resigned in February 2013, becoming the first pontiff to leave office on his own since Gregory XII in 1415. At the time, he announced that he no longer had the physical and spiritual strength to administer the Catholic Church.
Already under the title of pope emeritus, after his resignation, Benedict began to occupy modest dependencies of a monastery on the Vatican grounds, which he rarely left, such as, at the invitation of Pope Francis, his successor, for the canonization mass of John Paulo 2nd (1920-2005), whom he had succeeded in 2005.
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