Thousands of Pilgrims Pay Their Respects to Benedict XVI, by Edward Pentin

By Edward Pentin, EWTN News, January 2, 2023

By 7pm Monday, the Holy See Press Office had estimated that some 65,000 people had visited Benedict’s mortal remains, and the line tailed back all the way around St. Peter’s Square.

VATICAN CITY — Shortly before sunrise, as crowds of faithful began to gather outside St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to the late pope emeritus, Benedict XVI’s mortal remains were transported from his Mater Ecclesia Monastery residence in the Vatican Gardens to the basilica.

Accompanied by his long-serving personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein and other close aides on the brief 15-minute journey to St. Peter’s, Benedict’s body was carried by 10 pallbearers and placed on a simple dais at the front of Altar of the Confession, where it will remain for three days for the faithful to pray and bid farewell to the late pontiff. …