I Hold Him in My Heart Tens of Thousands Pay Respects to Benedict

NYT WORLD: ‘I Hold Him in My Heart’: Tens of Thousands Pay Respects to Benedict
By Emma Bubola and Elisabetta Povoledo
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: January 2, 2023 at 02:00AM

The pope emeritus is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, where some 65,000 mourners, including Roman Catholic faithful and tourists, had paid last respects by Monday evening.

Inside St. Peter’s, Benedict rested on a simple dais in front of the main altar, dressed in traditional red and white garments, his hands crossed beneath a rosary. He did not have a pallium, the vestment symbolizing the authority of metropolitan archbishops, because it was “a symbol of jurisdiction which is normally not used for a retired prelate,” according to the Vatican website Vatican News. There were no other papal insignia or regalia, such as the silver staff with a crucifix.
Two Swiss Guards in their colorful uniforms stood at attention as mourners passed in front of the dais, some making the sign of the cross. The Swiss Guard protect the pope and his residence.
Luciano Ippoliti, a 61-year-old high-school teacher in Rome, knelt and crossed himself, keeping his eyes on the body as security guards urged mourners to proceed quickly.
“I said, ‘Thank you,’” Mr. Ippoliti said. “I owed it to him.”
The speed at which the line moved made prayers necessarily brief. A group of faithful recited the Lord’s Prayer by the pope’s body, some took photographs of Benedict, but also of the main apse and the transept of the basilica, with works by the Baroque architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/world/europe/pope-benedict-lying-in-state.html

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