Pope Benedict XVI was laid to rest in a tomb under St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday in a private ceremony.
The deceased pontiff, carried in a simple wooden coffin, was buried following a funeral Mass celebrated for him by his successor, Pope Francis.
After the funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict’s body was carried into the basilica and taken underneath to a crypt where he was laid to rest. The final ceremony was held in private with only his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and several high-ranking cardinals of the Catholic Church.
Thursday’s ceremony will bring an end to a days-long memorial for the late pope as tens of thousands of people paid tribute to his life and legacy from Monday through Wednesday.
Cardinals arrive for of the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on Dec. 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
22 June 2020, Bavaria, Freising: Archbishop Georg Gänswein and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at Munich Airport on June 22, 2020.
(Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The Vatican said nearly 160,000 people had passed through the basilica during that time.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who attended to Benedict up until his death, told Vatican News a nurse told him the pope made one last profession of love to the Lord in his final words.
POPE BENEDICT’S LAST WORDS, ACCORDING TO HIS BEDSIDE NURSE
Pope Benedict XVI appears on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, April 19, 2005.
(Arturo Mari/AFP via Getty Images)
“With just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner, [Benedict] said in Italian, ‘Lord, I love you!’ I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterwards,” Gänswein said.
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He added, “These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he was no longer able to express himself.”
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
