“Today we join Pope Francis and Catholics across the world in mourning the death of Pope Benedict XVI who has gone home to the God he served faithfully. Throughout his life as a scholar and as a churchman, he showed us what it means to fulfill the ancient command to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. . . .” Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago

“Since he was a young man, Pope Benedict’s encounter with Jesus Christ gave the whole of his life a new horizon and a definitive direction.” Archbishop Mark O’Toole, Cardiff, Wales

“He’s a man of such virtue, always striving to do what was right,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda

ASSOCIATED PRESS VIDEO

Click here to watch a four-minute Assocated Press video which includes clips of Pope Benedict XVI speaking in English. Some of the digital transcription is in error. Near the end of this post, below the More Vatican News Articles, you will find both the text of the Actual Speech Passages in the Associated Press Video and links to the full speech as recorded in the official online Vatican website.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

This is a section of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008 speech at the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine. Place yourself there and listen to the Pope’s words which he intended for all of us to hear. This link begins three minutes into the ten-minute talk.

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FAREWELL TO BENEDICT XVI: ‘Humble worker in vineyard of the Lord’

By Vatican News

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has returned to the Father’s House.

The Holy See Press Office announced that the Pope Emeritus died at 9:34 AM on Saturday morning in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, which the 95-year-old Pope emeritus had chosen as his residence after resigning from the Petrine ministry in 2013.

“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 AM in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.  As of Monday morning, 2 January 2023, the body of the Pope Emeritus will be in Saint Peter’s Basilica so the faithful can pay their respects.” . . .

Funeral plans

During a briefing at the Holy See Press office, the director, Matteo Bruni, told journalists that  Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of the Pope Emeritus on 5 January at 9.30 CET in St. Peter’s Square. No tickets are foreseen for participation in the Mass.

Bruni also said the Pope Emeritus on Wednesday 28th, in the afternoon, received the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the end of Holy Mass.

And speaking to reporters after the briefing he said Benedict specifically asked that everything – including the funeral – be marked by simplicity, just as he lived his life.

A statement later in the day shed more light on details regarding the lying in state, the funeral ceremony and the burial.

It noted that at the conclusion of the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Holy Father, the Final Commendation and Valediction will take place.

The Pope Emeritus‘ remains will then be taken into St. Peter’s  Basilica and then to the Vatican Grottos where he will be laid to rest.

Lying in state

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s remains will rest at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery until the morning of Monday, 2 January; official visits or public prayers are not foreseen.

From 9am on the same day, Benedict’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s  Basilica so the faithful can pay their final respects.

On Monday the Basilica will remain open from 9am to 7pm; on Tuesday and Wednesday from 7am to 7pm.

Updated at 16.42

More Vatican News Articles

Death of Pope Emeritus Benedict: his official biography

‘God is love’: The key to Benedict’s pontificate

Reactions from the world to news of Benedict XVI’s death

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Actual Speech Passages in the Associated Press Video

Cologne, Germany, August 21, 2005 – 20th World Youth Day

We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one. In this way, adoration, as we said earlier, becomes union. God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world.

I like to illustrate this new step urged upon us by the Last Supper by drawing out the different nuances of the word “adoration” in Greek and in Latin. The Greek word is proskynesis. It refers to the gesture of submission, the recognition of God as our true measure, supplying the norm that we choose to follow. It means that freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and goodness, so that we ourselves can become true and good. This gesture is necessary even if initially our yearning for freedom makes us inclined to resist it.

We can only fully accept it when we take the second step that the Last Supper proposes to us. The Latin word for adoration is ad-oratio – mouth to mouth contact, a kiss, an embrace, and hence, ultimately love. Submission becomes union, because he to whom we submit is Love. In this way submission acquires a meaning, because it does not impose anything on us from the outside, but liberates us deep within.

Sydney, Australia, July 19, 2008 – 23th World Youth Day

“Dear friends, may this celebration, in the presence of the Successor of Peter, be a moment of rededication and renewal for the whole Church in Australia! Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country. Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their Pastor, I too share in their suffering. These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain and have damaged the Church’s witness. I ask all of you to support and assist your Bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil. Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people. In these days marked by the celebration of World Youth Day, we are reminded of how precious a treasure has been entrusted to us in our young people, and how great a part of the Church’s mission in this country has been dedicated to their education and care. As the Church in Australia continues, in the spirit of the Gospel, to address effectively this serious pastoral challenge, I join you in praying that this time of purification will bring about healing, reconciliation and ever greater fidelity to the moral demands of the Gospel.”