Benedict’s last words revealed as ex-pope lies in state at Vatican, thousands pay their respects
- Tens of thousands of people have already queued to pay their respects to Pope Emeritus Benedict in St Peter’s Basilica before his funeral on Thursday
- Benedict died on Saturday in the Vatican monastery where he had lived since his retirement in 2013; he was the first pope to resign in 600 years
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‘Deep sorrow’: World leaders and religious heads pay tribute to late Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Emeritus Benedict’s last words were “Lord, I love you,” his long-time secretary said, quoting a nurse who helped care for the 95-year-old former pontiff in his final hours.
“Benedict XVI, with a faint voice but in a very distinct way, said in Italian, ‘Lord, I love you’,” Gaenswein told the Vatican’s official media, adding that it happened when aides tending to Benedict were changing shifts.
“I wasn’t there in that moment, but the nurse a little later recounted it,” the archbishop said. “They were his last comprehensible words.”
As daylight broke on Monday, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen – lay assistants to pontiffs and papal households – carried Benedict’s body on a cloth-covered wooden stretcher after its arrival at St. Peter’s Basilica to its resting place in front of the main altar. A Swiss Guard saluted as the body was brought in via a side door.
02:20
‘Deep sorrow’: World leaders and religious heads pay tribute to late Pope Benedict XVI
Long-time secretary Gaenswein and a handful of consecrated laywomen who served in Benedict’s household followed the van carrying Benedict’s body for a few hundred yards in a silent procession toward the basilica. Some of the women stretched out a hand to respectfully touch the former pope.
