Admin l Sunday, January 8, 2023
VATICAN – The Vatican has opened the tomb of the recently deceased German pope emeritus Benedict XVI to the public.
On Sunday, visitors to St Peter’s Basilica were able to descend into the crypt where the 95-year-old was buried on Thursday.
Above his tomb, covered by a stone slab with his name on it, is a stone sculpture on the wall. The crypt contains the tombs of numerous popes.
Benedict lies in the tomb of his Polish predecessor John Paul II, whose remains were moved upstairs to the basilica for his 2011 beatification.
Benedict died on the morning of New Year’s Eve at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) convent, where he lived in the years after his resignation in 2013. Born in Bavaria, the conservative theologian was head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013.
Benedict’s long-time confidant and private secretary, Georg Gänswein, is now to settle his private estate, Gänswein writes in the Italian-language book, the title of which translates as “Nothing but the Truth,” which is due to be published by the Italian publishing house Piemme on Thursday.
Gänswein recently caused a stir when he wrote that he was shocked when Pope Francis suspended him as prefect of the papal household in 2020 and when he said in interviews that Benedict’s heart ached when Francis severely restricted the traditional Latin Mass.
