Analysis: A closer look at the ceremonial details of Benedict XVI’s funeral

The absence of official delegations at Benedict’s funeral was another feature that carried a certain weight. If the pope is reigning, there are only official delegations. In this case, it was preferred to clarify that the pope is emeritus by emphasizing that any participation by heads of state, monarchs, or government members would be in a personal capacity.

All of this happens because there is a “see plena,” with all the powers, which are those of the pope. Therefore, the heads of dicasteries have not ended their mandate at the death of Benedict XVI because the pontificate has not ended. And the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church has not taken power because the pontificate has not finished.

Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, Camerlengo, was not present when the casket was closed on Jan. 4. 

Instead, there were:

• Cardinal Giovan Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals;

• Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica;

• Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome;

• Cardinal Fernando Vergez, governor of Vatican City State;

• Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and

• the canons of St. Peter’s.

When the body of Benedict XVI was transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica, the prayer was led by Cardinal Gambetti and not by the Camerlengo because the Holy See was not vacant.

It is these details that help to understand that it was the pope emeritus and not the reigning pope who died. Not even the bells of St. Peter’s rang to announce the death of Benedict. 

There was no mourning day, and mourning was not officially proclaimed for the Vatican city-state even on the day of the funeral, though many Vatican employees attended the liturgy. 

In other words, ceremonial signals were sent to make clear that Benedict XVI was not the reigning pope. 

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At the same time, there was no doubt that Benedict XVI was pope and that he should have a pope’s funeral. 

In the same way, it must be considered that it is as if the pope’s death had occurred twice: first, at the resignation, during which the “sede vacante” began, and a conclave took place to elect the successor, and then at Benedict’s actual death. In other words, the funeral was the second half of a celebration that began with the vacant seat on Feb. 28, 2013.

In the end, Apostolici Dominici Gregis, John Paul II’s constitution that regulates the procedures after a papal death, states the funeral rites of the deceased pope must be “celebrated for nine consecutive days, determining when they are to begin, in such a way that burial will take place, except for special reasons, between the fourth and sixth day after death.”

Following these norms, Benedict’s funeral was celebrated within that time period. However, there will not be formally nine consecutive days of mourning, although Masses in suffrage of Benedict XVI’s soul will be celebrated.

Finally, a curiosity: Benedict XVI did not wear the fisherman’s ring, which was broken at the end of his pontificate, as a procedure. He was wearing instead the ring of St. Benedict, which replicated the symbols of St. Benedict’s medallion, symbolizing his unique link with the saint from Nursia, co-patron of Europe.