Vatican City - Thousands of faithful flocked to St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as tributes continue to pour in from across the world, including other Christian Churches, Heads of state and government, and also from faith leaders of other religions.

Approximately 65,000 people are reported to have visited Benedict XVI in the first five hours he was lying in state on Monday, according to the Vatican sources.

A long line of the faithful and other well-wishers had already formed early Monday morning before the viewing officially began at 9 am Rome time.

CNA reported that people from Mexico, Spain, Germany, Philippines came into Rome to pay their respects on Monday.

The exposition of the body will continue through Wednesday, with the Basilica open to the faithful from 7 am to 7 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday, Pope Francis will become the first pope in modern history to preside as Pope at the funeral of his predecessor. The Requiem Mass is set to take place Thursday morning in St Peter’s Square, beginning at 9:30 am Rome time.

In accordance with the wishes of the late Pope Emeritus, the funeral and the accompanying rites and ceremonies will be marked by the same simplicity that characterized the life of this “humble servant in the Lord’s vineyard.”

Benedict XVI, committed to Ecumenism
Reverend Ioan Sauca, the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), highlighted Benedict XVI’s significant contribution to ecumenical dialogue.

Noting that he was the first pope to have come from a country, Germany, with a roughly equal balance between Protestants and Catholics, and one that had been at the very centre of the 16th century Reformation, Rev. Sauca also remarked that Benedict XVI was the first Catholic Pontiff to have belonged to a committee of the WCC, as one of the Catholic members of its ‘Faith and Order Commission’.

Lutheran Church: a theologian who left an impression on all Christians
For her part, the president of the Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) Annette Kurschus has highlighted the Pope Emeritus’ theological acumen, as well as his contribution to ecumenic dialogue.

Kurschus recalls in particular Benedict XVI’s words during his Apostolic Journey to Germany in 2011 in which he stressed that “The most important thing for ecumenism is not to lose sight of the great things in common that make us Christians in the first place. This is a central ecumenical task in which we must help each other: to believe more deeply and more vividly”. “The EKD – she says share this concern” and “we are still grateful for this emphasis to this day”. Kurschus further remarked that his decision to resign in 2013 made him “deeply human”.

Patriarch Bartholomew: respect, love and gratitude
Benedict XVIs’ commitment to Christian unity and courage in resigning have been also highlighted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I who expressed "respect, love and gratitude” for the late Pope.

During a Divine Liturgy celebrated on Sunday at the Phanar for the first day of the year, the Head of the Greek Orthodox Church, recalled the Common Declaration they signed on November 30 in Istanbul, during his Apostolic Journey to Turkey, marking a further historic step forward in Catholic-Orthodox relations.

Bartholomew further highlighted his “fortitude and courage" to resign just eight years after his election as Bishop of Rome. "He could go on because he was in good health, but they decided he had to lay down the mandate, and that happened about five hundred, six hundred years after the last pope of Rome resigned". “May his memory be everlasting", the head of the Greek Orthodox concluded

Message of condolences of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, also sent his condolences, remarking that under his pontificate relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church made significant progress.

Other Orthodox Church leaders also shared their condolences for the Pope Emeritus’ death. Among them Pope Tawadros II, head of of the Orthodox Coptic Church in Egypt, who hailed Benedict XVI as “the best successor to the best predecessor” St. John Paul II), who spent his entire life in “the service of his Roman Catholic Church”; and Romanian Patriarch Daniel . who described him as a “venerable and well-known contemporary personality".
-VN