The Vatican on Thursday shared the first photos of the private ritual for the closing of Benedict XVI’s coffin.
The casket was closed in St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening of Jan. 4 after three days of public visitation to the late pope’s body.
Before the wooden coffin was closed, Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Vatican’s lead master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, placed a white veil over the late pope’s face. The action is part of the funeral rites for popes.
“Almighty God, Lord of life and death, we believe that the life of the Holy Father Benedict XVI is now hidden in you … May his face contemplate your beauty,” the prayer for the rite says.
Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, Pietro Parolin, Angelo De Donatis, Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, Edgar Peña Parra, Mauro Gambetti, and the consecrated women of the pope emeritus’ household were present for the closing of the coffin.
Before the casket was closed, a one-page summary in Latin of Benedict XVI’s papacy, called a “rogito” in Italian, was rolled into a metal cylinder and placed inside.
Gänswein kissed the top of the closed coffin, made of cypress.
Benedict XVI’s funeral and burial in the Vatican crypt took place on the morning of Jan. 5.
Before the wooden coffin is closed, Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein and Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Vatican’s lead master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, place a white veil over the late pope’s face. The action on Jan. 4, 2023, is part of the funeral rites for popes. Vatican Media
Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein kisses the former pope’s closed coffin during a private ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 4, 2023. Vatican Media
Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein signs an official document after the casket of the former pope was closed during a private ceremony on Jan. 4, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Vatican Media
Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Vatican’s lead master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, signs an official document after the coffin of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was closed in a private ceremony on Jan. 4, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Vatican Media
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Pope Francis prayed the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square on April 23, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Apr 23, 2023 / 05:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis recommended making an examination of conscience at the end of each day as a way to invite Jesus into the joys and struggles of daily life.
“Indeed, for us to it is important to reread our history together with Jesus: the story of our life, of a certain period, of our days, with its disappointments and hopes,” the pope said April 23.
“There is a good way of doing this, and today I would like to propose it to you: it consists of dedicating time, every evening, to a brief examination of conscience,” he said. “What happened inside of me today? That is the question. It means rereading the day with Jesus.”
Pope Francis addressed around 30,000 people during the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square on April 23, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis addressed a crowd of around 30,000 people on Sunday from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
After his brief message, he prayed the Regina Caeli, a Latin antiphon honoring the Virgin Mary which is usually prayed during the Easter Season.
Francis said making an examination of conscience is a way of “rereading my day, opening the heart, bringing to him people, choices, fears, falls, hopes, and all of the things that took place; to learn gradually to look at things with different eyes, with his eyes and not only our own.”
A nightly examination of conscience is also sometimes known as a daily examen, a part of the spirituality developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola.
The pope spoke about the spiritual practice in the context of the Gospel passage for the Third Sunday of Easter, which recounts Jesus’ appearance to two of his disciples while they were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus.
Pope Francis addressed around 30,000 people during the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square on April 23, 2023. Vatican Media
At first, the disciples did not recognize the resurrected Lord, who asked them to explain what had happened to make them so sad.
Jesus, the pope said, “wants to listen to their account. Then, while they are walking, he helps them reinterpret the facts in a different way, in the light of prophecy, in the light of the Word of God.”
“We too, like those disciples, faced with what happens to us, can find ourselves lost in the face of these events, alone and uncertain, with many questions and worries, disappointments, many things,” he explained.
“Today’s Gospel invites us to tell Jesus everything,” he continued, “sincerely, without worrying about bothering him — he listens — without fear of saying something wrong, without being ashamed of our struggle to understand.”
Pope Francis explained that the Lord is happy when we open ourselves to him, because he wants to accompany us, and to make our hearts burn within us, like happened with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
By making an examen, we are able to reread our day and life in the light of Christ’s love, he said.
“Even that which seems wearisome and unsuccessful,” he explained, “can appear in another light: a difficult cross to embrace, the decision to forgive an offense, a lost opportunity, the toil of work, the sincerity that comes at a price, and the trials of family life can appear to us in a new light, the light of the Crucified and Risen, who knows how to turn every fall into a step forward.”
But, he added, we have to drop our defenses and leave space for Jesus.
“We can begin today, to dedicate this evening a moment of prayer during which we ask ourselves: how was my day?” he said.
“What joys, what sadnesses, what monotonies, how was it, what happened?” are some of the questions we can ask ourselves, he said, together with “what were its pearls, possibly hidden, to be thankful for? Was there a little love in what I did? And what are the falls, the sadness, the doubts and fears to bring to Jesus so that he can open new ways to me, to lift me up and encourage me?”
“May Mary, wise Virgin, help us to recognize Jesus who walks with us and to reread, ‘reread’ is the word, every day of our life in front of him,” he said.
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