The Vatican experienced this Wednesday (4) an unusual moment, in which a living pope spoke to faithful in one part of the small city-state, while others, a short distance away, honored a deceased former pontiff. Pope Francis held his general audience in a large modern hall, a routine event for a Wednesday. “I would like us to join those, here beside us, who pay homage to Benedict XVI,” Francis told thousands of people at the start of the audience. Francis, 86, who will preside at Benedict’s funeral on Thursday, called his predecessor a “great master of catechesis”. Benedict, a towering theologian for conservative Catholics uncomfortable with Francis’ more progressive papacy, in 2013 became the first pope in 600 years to resign, rather than serve for the rest of his life. At about the same time Francis was speaking, just a few dozen meters away, the grand doors of St. Peter’s Basilica were being opened to the public for the third and final day of Benedict XVI’s wake. As of Tuesday night, around 135,000 people had passed by to honor the pope emeritus, whose body lay, without any papal insignia, in front of the main altar of the basilica. The decision not to include the insignia during public viewing appears to have been taken to make it clear that he was no longer pope when he died on Saturday, aged 95. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited.
Agência Brasil
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