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Pope Francis presided at the funeral of former Pope Benedict on Thursday, delivering a homily comparing his predecessor to Jesus before tens of thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s square.
To the sound of tolling bells, 12 pallbearers had carried the wooden coffin holding Benedict’s remains out of St. Peter’s Basilica and placed it on the ground before the largest church in Christendom.
Applause broke out across the vast, cobbled esplanade, which was shrouded in mist, in a sign of respect for Benedict, a hero to Roman Catholic conservatives who shocked the world by resigning nearly a decade ago.
Francis arrived in the square in a wheelchair. Troubled by a bad knee, the pontiff sat in a chair looking down on the coffin, slightly hunched and glum-faced as choirs sung in Latin.
In his homily read from the same spot, Francis used more than a dozen biblical references and Church writings in which he appeared to compare Benedict to Jesus, including his last word before he died on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Francis also referred to Benedict indirectly in paraphrases of other Biblical references to Jesus, including “love means being ready to suffer” and that the congregation was “commending our brother into the hands of the father”.
Also referring to Benedict during the Mass concelebrated by 125 cardinals, 200 bishops and about 3,700 priests, Francis spoke of “wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years”.
