With Benedict’s Death, an Unprecedented Moment for the Modern Church

NYT WORLD: With Benedict’s Death, an Unprecedented Moment for the Modern Church
By Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: December 31, 2022 at 02:00AM

Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic world by becoming the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign. Now his death leaves a living pope presiding over the funeral of his predecessor.

ROME — On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, as Pope Francis rested in the quarters of his humble residence before an evening Mass, gendarmes closed off to visitors the winding walking paths that cross the Vatican gardens in case Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, frail as he was, walked out of his monastery to pray.
In the near decade since Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church and the world by becoming the first pontiff in nearly 600 years to retire, an awkward and captivating arrangement pervaded the church. Two popes, past and present, traditionalist and reformist, both cloaked in white robes and invested with moral authority, coexisted on the same minuscule grounds.
That oddness, unprecedented in the modern era of the church, persisted after the death of Benedict on Saturday morning, as the church again found itself in rare territory, with a living pope set to preside over the funeral of his predecessor.
The funeral of Benedict XVI will be held on the morning of Jan. 5 and will be “presided over by Pope Francis, evidently,” said Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesman, who delivered what he called the “sad news” of the death in a short statement on Saturday morning that made sure to refer to Benedict without fail as “pope emeritus” — in both Italian and English — to avoid any confusion. He declined to answer questions. “I don’t think now is the time for questions to leave us time for some sadness in our heart.”
The timing was also inopportune because no one was quite sure what exactly would happen and what the first funeral for a pope emeritus would look like.
“The question is complicated,” said Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a historian of the papacy.
Those complications were immediately inescapable. Mr. Bruni said the funeral would be “simple,” and “solemn but sober,” in keeping with Benedict’s wishes. But Benedict, having retained his title of pontiff, if an emeritus one, was no simple cardinal, and it was not clear if he would receive the full procedural pomp and circumstance for a pontiff who died in office, among other things.

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/world/europe/pope-benedict-funeral.html

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