The former pope was dressed in red and gold vestments and wearing a gold miter. Popes are traditionally dressed in red for their funerals.
Benedict XVI had his rosary in his folded hands. He was wearing ordinary black clerical shoes, not the red shoes he famously wore during his reign.
Thousands of people waited in a long line on Jan. 2 to enter the basilica, some waiting before sunrise, to pray and pay their respects to Benedict XVI, who led the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013.
Father Alexander Lashuk, a Byzantine Catholic priest from Toronto, was in line early Monday morning. He told CNA that the line to see the late pope “was the usual Roman chaos, but when you entered St Peter’s it turned into a great hush.”
“People of all ages and from all over the world approached a dead father. You could hear whispers of the rosary. I was very blessed to be in Rome these days,” he said.
Lashuk reflected: “I am part of that generation that was really impacted by Benedict XVI – certainly as pontiff but even before his election through his theological writings that really planted seeds of our vocations. I know many people who were drawn to seminary or even became Catholic after encountering his writings.”
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