Vatican City - The funeral Mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in St. Peter’s Square.

At the end of the Mass, there will be the Final Commendation and valediction before Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s coffin is carried to the Vatican crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica for burial the Vatican said Saturday afternoon.

Pope Francis will preside over the funeral, which, in keeping with Benedict’s wishes, “will be carried out under the sign of simplicity,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The funeral a first in the history of the Catholic Church were a present Pope presides over the funeral of his predecessor.

The tombs in the Vatican crypt are close to the remains of the Catholic Church’s first pope, St. Peter the Apostle.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s remains will stay at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery until Jan. 2, 2022, the Vatican said. No official visits or public prayers are planned.

A German foundation has put together a website, benedictusxvi.org, where people can leave their condolences for Benedict XVI.

Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, he was elected to the papacy in April 2005, taking the name Benedict XVI, after decades of service to the Catholic Church as a theologian, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cardinal, and one of the closest collaborators of St. John Paul II, whom he succeeded as pope.

Pope Francis pays tribute to Benedict XVI
Pope Francis remembered Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his homily during the traditional end of the year celebration of Vespers.

The Vespers were followed by the recitation of the Te Deum, the Church’s solemn chant of Thanksgiving for the past year. The celebration on New Year's Eve took place in Saint Peter's Basilica.

Pope Francis recalled his predecessor’s great kindness, witness of faith and prayer.

“And speaking of kindness, at this moment, my thought naturally goes to dear Pope emeritus Benedict XVI who left us this morning. 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.”
-VN/CNA