Death and Funeral of Pope Benedict XVI


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sophie25 said:
I can't think of a funeral of a Pope that hasn't had royals from every Monarchy there. I wonder who Charles will send. I expect to see the Catholic royal ladies who have the Privilage du Blanc to use it that day.
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The Privilège du Blanc is not used at papal funerals: all ladies wear black. We see some royal ladies using it at the Intronisation ceremony of a new Pope, soon after a papal funeral, which maybe caused the confusion.

Margrethe II and Sofía in black (picture)

Margrethe II and Paola in black (picture)
 
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There is some confusion on social media about the use of privilege du blanc at papal funerals that I believe originate in some wrongly tagged photos of Queen Sofia from 1978. A few photos of her in white from the enthronement of Pope John Paul II have been tagged as if they were from the funeral of Pope John Paul I.
 
Bidding farewell to Benedict XVI: Translation to St. Peter's Basilica

Tens of thousands faithful gather in Vatican City ahead of Funeral
 
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I absolutely dislike the fact that mourners are taking photos of or filming the dead body of Benedict. Why are they doing this?

Personally I am not a fan of the Christian Church and really not a fan of the popes, but this behaviour of the mourners is disrespectful.
 
I agree that there should be a no camera notice out of respect as its very ghoulish to be taking photos of a dead person whether he was a Pope or not!


Ireland will be represented by the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See and the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin.
 
Its estimated that so far over 65,000 people have filed passed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he lies in state at St. Peter's Basilica.
 
Quite disappointing that many heads of state won’t participate tomorrow. He has been Pope for many years and meet countless of them during his reign. I expected them to care more.
 
JGio said:
Quite disappointing that many heads of state won’t participate tomorrow. He has been Pope for many years and meet countless of them during his reign. I expected them to care more.
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It seems the late Pope himself insisted on a "simple funeral". It somehow fits with his ascetic lifestyle within the walls of a convent which did last longer than his pontificate as Pope.
 
JGio said:
Quite disappointing that many heads of state won’t participate tomorrow. He has been Pope for many years and meet countless of them during his reign. I expected them to care more.
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Pope Emeritus Benedict requested that he wanted a simple funeral it was his wish.
 
maria-olivia said:
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde will attend .
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As will Queen Sofia of Spain and I'm sure other royals will attend too.
The Prime Minister of Hungary,Viktor Orban was there in St Peter's Basilica earlier today to pay his respects.
 
JGio said:
Quite disappointing that many heads of state won’t participate tomorrow. He has been Pope for many years and meet countless of them during his reign. I expected them to care more.
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It is not a State Funeral, and the Vatican extended official invitations only to the Heads of State of Italy and Germany.
 
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Mbruno said:
It is not a State Funeral, and the Vatican extended official invitations only to the Heads of State of Italy and Germany.
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I know but still.. emeritus European monarchs had solemn funerals but still most royal families participated in force.

It is a State funeral, but kept simple and less solemn from a liturgical perspective, being Benedict no longer regnant. That’s what they say on Italian TV. And if foreign monarchs can attend on a private capacity, I’m just disappointed many still won’t do it.

Anyway, we’ll see tomorrow who will participate.
 
I'd still expect to see a royal presence in a private capacity :previous:
 
Invitations are simply not extended to every head of State this time according to Pope Benedicts own wish to not have a high level funeral, like when Pope JPII was buried…

It is protocollary entirely correct to send representation at an ambassador-level instead then.
Especially for non-catholic countries, while understandably a few catholic heads of state/government and other catholic royals attend in private capacity if their time-schedule allows them to…
 
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Condolence message from His Royal Highness The Duke of Parma and Piacenza on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on BorboneParma.it (official website).

Extract from the text:
«We express, on behalf of HRH Duke Carlos Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, his consternation and that of the entire Royal Family to learn that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. The Duke has been following the evolution of the state of health of the Pontiff Emeritus with concern in recent days, keeping in direct contact with his private secretariat...»

«Both the Duke of Parma and the whole family accompanied Benedict XVI's agony with prayers...»

«On Wednesday 28 the Duke of Parma sent a final communication from The Hague to those responsible for the Pope's care in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery. In it, the Duke expressed that "beyond the sadness of the moment, we are invaded by a feeling of immense gratitude for the gift that God has given to the Church by choosing him as his Vicar"...»
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The Duke also spoke of the Private Audiences granted to his family and to him on 9 July 2009 and 29 July 2012, in which they met the Pope Emeritus.

The official Instagram account of the (former) Italian Royal House of Savoy announced in a statement that Her Royal Highness Princess Clotilde, Princess of Venice and Piedmont, and her daughter Her Royal Highness Princess Vittoria, Princess of Carignano, will participate in the funeral of the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and in the mass presided over by the current Pope, Francis.

Extract from the full text:
«The Princesses will act as representatives of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Vittorio Emanuele and Princess Marina of Savoy, pretenders to the throne of Italy, and His Royal Highness Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Piedmont and Venice, consort of Princess Clotilde...»
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Updated list of royals at the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI:
• HM King Philippe and HM Queen Mathilde of the Belgians (reported by The Brussels Times in this article).
• HM Queen Sofía of Spain (reported by El Confidencial in this article).
• HRH Princess Clotilde of Savoy with HRH Princess Vittoria of Savoy (reported by Ansa.it in this article).
• HRH Duke Carlos Xavier and (probably) HRH Duchess Annemarie of Parma and Piacenza (reported by NRC.NL in this article).
 
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I saw on TV that the President from Portugal will attend the funeral, so not just Italy and Germany.
 
Queen Sofía, has traveled to the Vatican City to attend the funeral mass for the Supreme Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, which will be officiated by Pope Francis, tomorrow, January 5.

After her arrival, Queen Sofía, where she was received by the Vatican's Chief of Protocol, Joseph Murphy, and then went inside St. Peter's Basilica.

 
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St.Peter Square is full already ahead of the funeral of the Pope Emiritus this morning at 09.30 local time..

He will be buried is the same grave as John XXIII and John Paul II before him
as they were both moved into the Basilica itself some years ago so the tomb is vacant.
A tomba vacante instead of a Sede Vacante.

 
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Please correct me , the Prince of Wales postponed his Wedding on 9 april 2005 because he has to attend Pope Jean Paul II funerals in Rome on April 8th ?
 
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Unsure - however sad that the UK could only send the Minister of Education.
 
I'd have been surprised not to see Queen Sofia there.
 
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maria-olivia said:
Please correct me , the Prince of Wales postponed his Wedding on 9 april 2005 because he has to attend Pope Jean Paul II funerals in Rome on April 8th ?
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That is correct. He didn't 'have to' postpone his wedding. He chose to do so. He felt, and The late Queen agreed, that he should go to Rome. They could have decided to not postpone the wedding and gone ahead with it but they also felt that would be disrespectful to the deceased Pope and the many Roman Catholics who are citizens of countries of which Her late Majesty was, and the then Prince of Wales would be the monarch.
 
Its a cold and foggy morning in Rome for the funeral,its believed that 135,000 people paid their respects to the late Pope at his lying in State.

The dress code has been relaxed and in keeping with the wishes of Pope Emeritus Benedict who had requested that he wanted a simple funeral Mass.
 
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