Pope Francis prays for Pope Benedict’s ‘passage’ to heaven

Pope Francis rang in 2023 with prayers for his late predecessor at a particular New 12 months’s Day mass.

Francis delivered the prayers throughout his homily at St. Peter’s Basilica, the place Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s will lie in state for 3 days starting on Monday.

Benedict, 95, died in retirement on New 12 months’s Eve on the Vatican, after changing into the primary pope in some six centuries to step down from the papacy in 2013.

“In the present day we entrust to our Blessed Mom our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in order that she might accompany him in his passage from this world to God,” Francis mentioned.

The 86-year-old pope will preside over Benedict’s funeral mass on the basilica on Thursday — a uncommon spectacle as a result of the loss of life of a pope normally kickstarts the method of selecting a brand new church chief in a papal conclave.

Francis arrived at mass in a wheelchair as he grappled with knee ache. The pontiff appeared weary a day after mourning Benedict at his monastery following his loss of life.

The pope had grieved for “fairly a while” at Benedict’s residence, in keeping with Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Francis had applauded Benedict’s 2013 retirement on account of frailty, and has mentioned he would additionally think about the uncommon papal maneuver for himself.

The primary mass of the 12 months in Vatican Metropolis was celebrated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the nation’s secretary of state. It’s theme was hope and peace, per Catholic church custom.

“Originally of this 12 months, we’d like hope, simply because the Earth wants rain,” Francis mentioned throughout his homily as he decried the Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and prayed for its victims.

With AP wires