Former Pope Benedict XVI died at his Vatican residence on Saturday, aged 95, almost a decade after he stood down due to ill health. He was the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
"With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible," said the Vatical in a written statement, as reported by news agency Reuters.
When Pope Francis called for prayers for his predecessor on Wednesday, December 28, mentioning that he was "very ill," People across the world began wondering what the funeral arrangements for a pope who has resigned would be like.
Benedict is only the second Pope after Pope Gregory XII to have resigned. Gregory had stepped down in 1415 and two years later, in 1917 he passed away and was quietly buried in Recanati, a town near the northern Adriatic coast, according to Reuters.
The world wasn't watching then. But it is going to be vastly different with the passing away of 95-year-old Benedict.
While there are protocols for the death of a reigning pope, there aren't publicly known ones for a former pope.
According to Vatican sources, some new protocols would be scripted that would act as a template for other popes who choose to resign instead of ruling for life, including Pope Francis himself someday, reported Reuters.
For a reigning pope there is a 30-page constitution called "Universi Dominici Gregis," Latin for "The Shepherd of the Lord's Whole Flock," and "Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis," (Funeral Rites for a Roman Pontiff) a missal of more than 400 pages that includes liturgy, music, and prayers.
According to the constitution, a pope's burial should take place between four and six days after his death as part of a nine-day period of mourning known as the Novendiale, the news agency reported.
The script for Benedict's passing would depend on two key elements: If Benedict himself left any instructions and decisions that will be taken by Pope Francis, Vatican officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Since many people would want to pay their respects to Benedict, who succeeded John Paul in 2005 an resigned in 2013, a period of lying in state would be likely, sources told the news agency.
Peter Seewald, Benedict's authorised biographer while speaking to Bavarian newspaper Passauer Neue Presse in 2020 had revealed that the pope had prepared a spiritual testament stating that he wanted to be buried in the same crypt where John Paul II was originally laid to rest.
Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presided at John Paul's funeral in 2005 in St. Peter's Square and Francis is expected to preside at Benedict's.