Pope Francis marks New Year as Vatican prepares to mourn Benedict
- Pontiff pays tribute to his predecessor, will lead Benedict’s funeral on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square
- Francis appeals for peace, urges people to ‘dirty our hands and to do some good’
Francis presided at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica as the body of Benedict, who died on Saturday at the age of 95, was being prepared for three days of public viewing in the same church starting on Monday.
In accordance with Benedict’s wishes, his funeral on Thursday will be simple, solemn and sober. It will be the first time in many centuries that a sitting pope will preside at the funeral of his predecessor. Benedict, who stepped down in 2013, had been the first pontiff in 600 years to resign.
January 1 is also the feast of the Mother of God and in his homily, Francis asked the Madonna to accompany “our beloved” Pope Emeritus Benedict “on his passage from this world to God”.
Benedict was also remembered in one of the prayers at the Mass.
Hobbled by knee pain, Francis, 86, on Sunday arrived at the basilica in a wheelchair, before taking his place in a chair for the Mass.
The pope appealed for peace, alluding to war-torn countries, including Ukraine, where Russia continued intense attacks on New Year’s Day.
“Let us pray to our Mother in a special way for her sons and daughters who are suffering and no longer have the strength to pray, and for our many brothers and sisters throughout the world who are victims of war, passing these holidays in darkness and cold, in poverty and fear, immersed in violence and indifference,” he said.
