The general public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI within the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pontiff was buried on Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies within the grottoes under the basilica’s most important floor.
The Vatican announced on Saturday that the general public could visit the tomb starting Sunday morning.
Benedict had lived since 2013 as pope emeritus, following his retirement from the papacy, the primary pontiff to accomplish that in 600 years. He died on Dec. 31 on the age of 95, within the Vatican monastery where he spent his last years.
On Thursday, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, imparted a final blessing after Benedict’s body, contained inside three coffins — the cypress one displayed within the square through the funeral presided over by Pope Francis, a zinc one and an outer one hewn from oak — were lowered right into a space in the ground.
The stays were placed in the previous tomb of Benedict’s predecessor, St. John Paul II. John Paul’s stays were moved as much as a chapel on the most important floor of the basilica following his 2011 beatification.
Some 50,000 people attended Benedict’s funeral, following three days of the body’s lying in state within the basilica, an event which drew nearly 200,000 viewers.
The name of Benedict, the Catholic church’s 265th pontiff, was engraved on a white marble slab, the Vatican said.
The Vatican didn’t say whether Pope Francis had privately visited the finished tomb of Benedict before public viewing was permitted, or might accomplish that at another time.
On Sunday morning, Francis was leading a ceremony for the baptism of 13 babies within the Sistine Chapel. The chapel, frescoed by Michelangelo, is the standard setting for the baptisms, an event which closes out the Vatican’s year-end ceremonies.
The general public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI within the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pontiff was buried on Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies within the grottoes under the basilica’s most important floor.
The Vatican announced on Saturday that the general public could visit the tomb starting Sunday morning.
Benedict had lived since 2013 as pope emeritus, following his retirement from the papacy, the primary pontiff to accomplish that in 600 years. He died on Dec. 31 on the age of 95, within the Vatican monastery where he spent his last years.
On Thursday, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, imparted a final blessing after Benedict’s body, contained inside three coffins — the cypress one displayed within the square through the funeral presided over by Pope Francis, a zinc one and an outer one hewn from oak — were lowered right into a space in the ground.
The stays were placed in the previous tomb of Benedict’s predecessor, St. John Paul II. John Paul’s stays were moved as much as a chapel on the most important floor of the basilica following his 2011 beatification.
Some 50,000 people attended Benedict’s funeral, following three days of the body’s lying in state within the basilica, an event which drew nearly 200,000 viewers.
The name of Benedict, the Catholic church’s 265th pontiff, was engraved on a white marble slab, the Vatican said.
The Vatican didn’t say whether Pope Francis had privately visited the finished tomb of Benedict before public viewing was permitted, or might accomplish that at another time.
On Sunday morning, Francis was leading a ceremony for the baptism of 13 babies within the Sistine Chapel. The chapel, frescoed by Michelangelo, is the standard setting for the baptisms, an event which closes out the Vatican’s year-end ceremonies.
