When Pope Francis entered the Audience Hall in Rome for the weekly General Audience on December 28, 2022, just days after Christmas, he carried a message that resonated far beyond the faithful gathered before him. Speaking with visible concern, the Holy Father turned to the world with an urgent prayer request.
“I ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” Pope Francis said. “Remember him, he is very ill. And ask the Lord to comfort and support him in this witness of love to the Church, until the end.”
Shortly afterward, the Holy See Press Office issued a statement describing the condition of the Pope Emeritus as “worrying, but stable for the moment.” The Church responded swiftly, gathering in prayer for the former pontiff who had guided it for nearly eight years.
Final Hours and a Life of Enduring Witness
Two days later, on December 30, a Holy Mass for Pope Benedict XVI was celebrated in the Lateran Basilica. The Eucharistic celebration was presided over by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis and attended by numerous faithful, along with longtime companions of Joseph Ratzinger.
Among them was Archbishop Alois Kothgasser of Salzburg, who reflected on the legacy of the Pope Emeritus.
“If you read a little, you can only marvel at the depth of theology he communicated,” Archbishop Kothgasser said, “but always in a language that is understandable and that does not hover above the clouds, but stays close to the reality of life.”
He added that Benedict’s humility left a lasting impression. “The connection has remained and I am very grateful for the courage he had to also acknowledge his [own] limitations. But what he gave to people with his life and with his teaching and above all with his preaching, that remains.”
In the early morning hours of December 31, 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took his final breath. The Vatican announced his passing a short time later.
“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.”
A Global Farewell Anchored in Faith
As news of his death spread, television crews from around the world gathered in St. Peter’s Square. In the days that followed, more than 200,000 pilgrims came to personally bid farewell as Pope Benedict’s body lay in state.
The Requiem Mass, presided over by Pope Francis, was celebrated on January 5, 2023. After the Mass, the coffin was carried into St. Peter’s Basilica and laid to rest in the former tomb of Saint John Paul II.
Reflecting on the funeral, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and Primate of England and Wales, spoke of the profound emotion and hope expressed in the Church’s rites.
“It’s a very emotional moment,” Cardinal Nichols said. “And I love this funeral service of the Catholic Church because it combines a deep sense of sadness and real loss at the death of Pope Benedict. But it also contains absolutely firm and resolute expressions of faith, that we know that there is life after death, and that the promises of Christ are reliable.”
He added that this faith allows the Church to mourn with hope. “And therefore, we celebrate this with sadness, but with great firmness of faith and confidence in the future.”
For many pilgrims, the farewell echoed words of Pope Benedict himself—words Pope Francis recalled during the General Audience the day before the funeral.
“In the words of our dear departed Benedict XVI,” Pope Francis said, “I want to remind you, ‘He who believes is never alone!’ He who has God as Father has many brothers and sisters.”
In prayer, faith, and quiet confidence in Christ’s promises, the Church entrusted Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the mercy of God—grateful for a life given wholly in service to truth, faith, and love.
Adapted by Jacob Stein
