Pope Benedict XVI funeral mass held at Vatican, led by Pope Francis | USA TODAY

Pope Benedict XVI's Vatican funeral blended centuries-old funeral rites with newly-created adaptations. The late pope died at the age of 95.

RELATED: Pope Benedict XVI funeral held at the Vatican

The Catholic Church on Thursday conducted a unique ceremony that blended centuries-old funeral rites with newly-created adaptations as it bid farewell to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died Saturday at the age of 95.

“We now offer our final goodbye to Pope Emeritus Benedict and we commend him to God, our Merciful and Loving Father,” declared Pope Francis, Benedict’s successor who oversaw the hour-long event.

“God’s faithful people, gathered here now, accompany and entrust to him the life of the one who was their pastor,” Francis said. Afterwards, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re passed around the former pope’s coffin with incense, a traditional and symbolic funeral rite.

» Subscribe to USA TODAY:
» Watch more on this and other topics from USA TODAY:
» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.

#Pope #Vatican #Funeral

7 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.