When Pope Francis entered the Audience Hall in Rome for the weekly General Audience shortly after the Christmas holidays on Dec. 28th, 2022, he carried a message that startled more than just the faithful worldwide. The pontiff addressed a prayer request to the world:
“I ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict. 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.”
A short time later, the Holy See issued a press release describing the health of the Pope Emeritus as “worrying, but stable for the moment.”
Two days later, on December 30, a Holy Mass for Pope Benedict was even held in the Lateran Basilica. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis celebrated the Eucharistic celebration, which was attended by numerous faithful as well as old companions of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI.
The late Archbishop Alois Kothgasser of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, Austria, shared, “If you read a little, you can only marvel at the depth of theology he communicated, but always in a language that is understandable and that does not hover above the clouds, but stays close to the reality of life. 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.”
The very next morning, December 31st, 2022, Benedict XVI took his last breath.
The Vatican officially announced a little 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.”
The news had just made the rounds, already TV stations from all over the world gathered in front of St. Peter’s Square.
A little more than 200,000 pilgrims from all over the world took the opportunity to personally bid farewell to the laid-out body. The Requiem Mass with Pope Francis followed on January 5th.
After the Requiem Mass, the coffin was taken to St. Peter’s Basilica and finally buried in the former tomb of Pope John Paul II.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Primate of England and Wales, noted, “It’s a very emotional moment. 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. And therefore, we celebrate this with sadness, but with great firmness of faith and confidence in the future.”
Many pilgrims may still have remembered the words of Benedict that Pope Francis mentioned the day before at the general audience:
“In the words of our dear departed Benedict XVI I want to remind you, ‘He who believes is never alone! He who has God as Father has many brothers and sisters.’”
This article was originally published on 13 January 2023 and updated on 27 December 2024.
Adapted by Jacob Stein
