CathNews New Zealand

Christmas and Easter are the two most important liturgical seasons in the Christian Church. And in a sort of symbolic way they served as bookends to the life and death of Joseph Ratzinger, the priest and theologian who eventually became Pope Benedict XVI — the first Roman Pontiff in 600 years to voluntarily renounce the papacy.

Ratzinger was born in 1927 on Holy Saturday in the final hours of the Easter Triduum. He died nearly 96 years later on the morning of New Year’s Eve, the penultimate day of the Christmas Octave.

And the funeral Mass and burial of the “pope emeritus” — a title he invented for himself in 2013 when he resigned — was to take place on the day before the Epiphany. All very fitting for a man who put the Catholic liturgy at the forefront of his life.

As his body lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims and tourists in Rome for the holidays joined the Catholic clergy, religious, and civic leaders to pay their last respects to the man whom many will remember as “B16”.

What has the pope said?

The pope — that is, Pope Francis — was the one who first alerted people that his retired Bavarian predecessor was gravely ill. That was just three days before Benedict’s death on December 31.

But in the initial days after the death, Francis said very little about the man who preceded him as Bishop of Rome (2005-2013).

The 86-year-old pope spoke on three occasions — during Vespers on New Year’s Eve, and then at morning Mass and the noonday Angelus on January 1. He remembered Benedict each time.

“Speaking of kindness, at this moment, my thought naturally goes to dear pope emeritus Benedict XVI who left us this morning,” Francis said at that Vesper service.

“We are moved as we recall him as such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him for all the good he accomplished, and above all, for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his recollected life. Only God knows the value and the power of his intercession, of the sacrifices he offered for the good of the Church,” the pope concluded.

He remembered Benedict again the next morning at Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, with these very brief words: “We entrust beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to our Most Holy Mother, that she will accompany him on his journey from this world to God.”

Then Francis offered these thoughts at the Angelus: “At this time, let us invoke (Mary Most Holy’s) intercession especially for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who left this world yesterday morning. Let us all join together, with one heart and one soul, in thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church. We saw recently on TV, the ‘Sua Immagine’ program, all that he did and the life of Pope Benedict.”

Business as usual

Then there was a fourth occasion, Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, the day before the funeral.

He once again mentioned Benedict at the outset, calling him “a great master of catechesis” whose “acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial”.

But then, the Jesuit pope put his predecessor aside and began the final lesson of his catechetical cycle on discernment. It seemed sort of odd — and even surreal — that, like Saturday and Sunday, Francis gave Benedict what amounted to an “honourable mention” and then continued on with his prepared remarks without any further reference to the former pope.

After Vespers on New Year’s Eve, he surprised his aides by changing protocol at the last minute.

He was supposed to be taken by the “popemobile” from the basilica to visit the Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square, but he had his butler push in his wheelchair the entire distance across the cobbled-stoned square, passing through several thousand cheering tourists and visitors.

It was almost to say, “There is just one pope. And, fear not, it is I.”

Francis took a break from public appointments on Monday and then resumed his normal schedule of activities the following day, holding meetings and audiences with individuals and groups.

He also went ahead with his Wednesday general audience.

It must be said in Francis’ defence that the manner in which Benedict decided to live out his retirement — continuing to wear white and call himself “pope emeritus” — created an ambiguity that has lingered even in these recent days.

Not a few reporters continued to wonder how the established protocols for deceased popes would be applied to Benedict, forgetting that he was no longer the pope when he died.

But he certainly gave new life to the title “emeritus”, which is now being used more and more by people who have retired or stepped down from all sorts of roles or professions.

It’s become so bemusing that a friend jokingly referred to his “ex” as his “wife emerita”.

Who’s expected at Benedict’s funeral?

The Vatican announced early on that it had invited only Germany and Italy to send official delegations to Benedict’s funeral.

It said political leaders and government officials from other countries were welcome to attend, but only in a private capacity without being accorded the normal protocols and security details usually reserved for official visits.

Nonetheless, some big names — bluebloods and political conservatives in Europe — planned to attend the funeral Mass.

And that makes sense since Benedict XVI was the last Old World pope and believed firmly that the classic European philosophical and cultural tradition was part and parcel of Christianity.

Here are just a few of the people who will be attending the funeral in a private capacity:

• Sofia of Greece and Denmark, the former Queen of Spain
• King Philippe of Belgium
• President Andrzej Duda of Poland
• President Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal
• President Katalin Novak of Hungary
• President Nataša Pirc Musar of Slovenia

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his wife came to Rome early in the week to pay their last respects to Benedict lying in state, but they were not expected to stay for his funeral.

Meanwhile, a number of European countries are sending government ministers, while most nations will be represented by their current ambassador to the Holy See.

There will be numerous ecumenical delegations on hand, too.

The various Orthodox Churches, which held Joseph Ratzinger and his theology in high regard, will have the most representatives at his funeral.

Naturally, a high number of the Roman Church’s cardinals are expected to be attending, as well as heads of national episcopal conferences from around the world. And, of course, numerous other bishops, priests and woman and men religious — as well as ordinary Catholics — will be in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday.

The funeral: “simple, solemn and sober”

Ratzinger, who was extremely devoted to the Church’s liturgy, requested that his funeral be “simple, solemn and sober”, according to the Holy See Press Office director, Matteo Bruni.

And since he died a former pope, the liturgy will be slightly different from that for a pope who died in office.

But only slightly so.

The major difference is that the actual pope, Francis, will be presiding.

Normally, the College of Cardinals’s dean presides at a dead pope’s funeral. But, again, the one who died was no longer pope. The confusion, however, does not end there.

Forgive the insistence on clarity, but it must be pointed out that the men in charge of the papal liturgies have caused more confusion with their sloppy use of terminology.

In the Order of Service for Benedict’s funeral they indicate Pope Francis as the “presider” and “celebrant”.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is listed as “the cardinal at the altar”.

What?

The other clerics — cardinals, bishops and priests — are called “concelebrants”, forgetting that everyone in the assembly is actually “celebrating”.

The muddle is due to the fact that Francis is unable to stand at the altar and preside at the Eucharistic liturgy, so someone else has to do that for him.

Another “Santo Subito”? A Doctor of the Church?

But this is not all that alarming compared to another more serious matter.

And that is the calls for Benedict to be proclaimed “Santo Subito” (i.e. to be made a saint immediately), as happened in 2005 at the funeral of John Paul II. Benedict’s longtime personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, was the one who first said that he believes “it will go this way”.

In fact, at the end of the Wednesday general audience, a group of young people began chanting “Santo Subito! Benedetto!”

That elicited a few scattered boos.

Then there are those who are calling for Joseph Ratzinger to be made a Doctor of the Church.

One of them is Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the former president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

“I hope he will soon be declared a Doctor of the Church,” he told the Turin-based daily La Stampa.

“Like the star of Bethlehem, Benedict XVI will continue to point the way to Jesus to the pastors of our time,” he said.

“I place Benedict XVI among the greats, as Doctor of the Church, a Church Father,” Austrian Cardinal Christophe Schönborn told Corriere della Sera.

“We will remember Joseph Ratzinger in the 20th century as we remember John Henry Newman in the 19th and Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura in the 13th centuries,” the 77-year-old Dominican said.

Among Ratzinger’s various characteristics was his insistence that faith and reason must go hand-in-hand.

But some of his most illustrious admirers seem to have lost their sense of reason or, at least, their sense of perspective.

At least Cardinal Walter Kasper, another German theologian who often sparred with the late pope, seemed to have kept his head on this one.

“I’m not really in favour of ‘Santo Subito’,” the 89-year-old cardinal told Il Giornale.

“I think we need more time; times teaches us many things. Then, we’ll see… if it’s possible.”

Until then, may Benedict XVI rest in peace and finally contemplate the face of God, as he so much desired throughout his long life.

• Robert Mickens is LCI Editor in Chief. First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

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