About 200,000 people paid their respects to Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, during the three days his body was lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican officials said on Wednesday evening.
Some traveled from abroad specifically to honor his memory, while others took the opportunity to come to St. Peter’s during their vacations in Rome. Benedict, who resigned in 2013, the first pontiff to do so in six centuries, died on Saturday and will be buried Thursday.
“It was beautiful to see him,” said Stefania Isaila, 42, who flew from Romania to attend Benedict’s funeral with a friend. “He appeared happy to be with God, the encounter that he has always talked about.”
Ms. Isaila entered the basilica at 7 a.m., among the first to do so on Wednesday, before large lines formed, and she stayed to attend a Mass in Benedict’s honor. She was among the 60,000 people who came to St. Peter’s on Wednesday alone. While John Paul II was the pope she grew up with, Ms. Isaila said, “I really loved Benedict.”
“I appreciated his clarity of thought and his deep faith,” she said, sitting in the sun on steps outside an area cordoned off for security checks. “His sensitivity was harder to understand, but he felt very close to me.”
Between 65,000 and 70,000 people viewed his body on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Vatican. Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to pay their respects to the former pope on Monday. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary sat in prayer before Benedict’s body.
The faithful continued to flock to Benedict’s side on Wednesday. “We came to say goodbye one last time,” said Corrado Luigi, 76, a retiree from Rome who also attended John Paul II’s funeral in 2005.
“We came for a different reason, but we are also going to view Benedict,” said Patrizia Berrettini, 50, who had planned a tour of the Vatican with her family months ago. “We owe it to him. Standing in line is no sacrifice for us.”
Benedict succeeded John Paul II, who died after years of serious illness and declining health. When Benedict resigned in 2013, he had reigned for almost eight years in a difficult time for the church, one marked by turmoil.
His successor, Pope Francis, opened his remarks Wednesday at his weekly general audience inside the Vatican, just steps away from the basilica where Benedict lay in state, with a reference to the faithful lining up outside to pay respects.
Francis praised his predecessor, who was known for his scholarly intellect, as a “master of catechesis.” The crowds inside the auditorium applauded.
“His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Francis added.
After 7 p.m. on Wednesday, when the viewing closed to the public, Vatican officials were to place Benedict’s body in a coffin made of cypress wood for the public funeral.
The coffin will also contain commemorative medals and coins minted during Benedict’s papacy, an account of his time as pope written in Latin and his pallium stoles — wool vestments worn around the neck by pontiffs to symbolize their roles as shepherds of their flocks.
On Thursday morning, his coffin will be carried out in front of St. Peter’s for a public Mass, with tens of thousands expected in attendance.
Only Italy and Benedict’s native Germany will send official delegations, as he was no longer a reigning pontiff when he died. Representatives of other countries will participate in a private capacity, including the presidents of Poland and Hungary and the monarchs of Spain and Belgium.
Since he was no longer pope when he died, Benedict did not lie in state with his papal regalia, such as the pallium. But the liturgy for his funeral will largely resemble that of a sitting pope, with some changes to the prayers, according to a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni.
After the funeral, Vatican officials will place his cypress coffin inside another one made of zinc, and then a second wooden coffin. Benedict will then be buried, according to his wishes, in the grottos underneath the basilica, a crypt that was once occupied by John Paul II. John Paul was moved in 2011, when he was beatified in a first step to sainthood.
