Pope Francis has marked the New Year by presiding over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and praying for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a day after his retired predecessor's death.
Pope Francis kisses a statue of Baby Jesus as he attends a Mass for the solemnity of St. Mary at the beginning of the new year, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95.
“I wasn't there in that moment, but the nurse a little later recounted it,'' the archbishop said. ”They were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards, he wasn't able to express himself any more."Earlier, the Vatican said that Pope Francis went to pay his respects immediately after Gaenswein called to inform him of Benedict's death shortly after 9:30 a.m.
“Today we entrust to our Blessed Mother our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, so that she may accompany him in his passage from this world to God,” he said.Rome Prefect Bruno Frattasi, an Interior Ministry official, told Italian state TV that “no fewer than 25,000, 30,000” mourners were expected to file past the coffin on Monday.
"Let us unite all together, with one heart and one soul, in giving thanks to God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the church,'' Francis said, speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace to pilgrims and tourists below. Hobbled by knee pain, Francis, 86, on Sunday arrived in the basilica in a wheelchair and took his place in a chair for the Mass, which was being celebrated by the Vatican's secretary of state.
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