by Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The funeral rites for Pope John Paul II and for all popes are meant to be “celebrations in faith and hope,” moments not of mourning but of prayers for his eternal rest in heaven and for the church.
The rites and rituals used — from the formal verification of the pope’s death to the memorial Masses held on the nine days following the funeral — are published in the “Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis” (“Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff”).
The red-bound book was released April 4, although the text had been approved by Pope John Paul in 1998, said a note issued by Archbishop Piero Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies.
The text of the rites, Masses and prayer services are given in their original Latin or Greek with Italian translations.
In the introduction to the book, Archbishop Marini said the prayers also should include expressions of concern for the deceased pope’s relatives and those who served him closely.
The prayers, he said, should express “grateful remembrance for the words with which the deceased pastor built up the people of God, the sacraments with which he nourished them and the care with which he defended, safeguarded and guided them.”
The rites are divided into three “stations” based on the place they occur: “at home, in the Vatican basilica and at the burial place.”
Even the moment of the formal verification of the pope’s death early April 3 took place in the context of a prayer service “at home” in the papal apartments.
Separate services were written for the viewing of the pope’s body in the Apostolic Palace and for the formal transfer of the body to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
After the public viewing, the book called for the pope’s body to be placed in a casket made of cypress wood in the presence of several Vatican officials, including the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, senior cardinals, the former secretary of state and the prefect of the papal household.
The pope’s body is blessed with holy water — as it was at the moment of its exposition in the papal apartments and in St. Peter’s — his face is covered with a white silk cloth, and a small purse containing coins minted during his pontificate is placed in the casket with the body.
The dean of the College of Cardinals, currently Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presides over the pope’s funeral Mass wearing red vestments.
The Gospel reading is from St. John’s account of Jesus asking Peter, “Do you love me?” and telling him, “Feed my sheep.”
The funeral Mass includes special prayers recited on behalf of the people of Rome, because the pope was their bishop, and on behalf of Eastern-rite Catholics.
After the funeral, the cypress casket is placed inside a zinc casket and then inside a casket made of unspecified wood. Each casket is sealed with wax.
The Vatican announced April 4 that Pope John Paul’s funeral was to be celebrated April 8 with interment following in the grotto under St. Peter’s Basilica.
According to the book of rites, if a pope is to be interred in the grotto under St. Peter’s Basilica, the body is accompanied by the same group of people who had accompanied it from the Apostolic Palace to St. Peter’s Basilica.
If the pope had left instructions that he was to be buried somewhere else, it would have been the task of the papal master of ceremonies to make the appropriate arrangements.
The memorial Masses — called the “novendiali” — held over the next nine days are open to the public, but their celebration is entrusted in rotation to seven specific groups: the papal chapel, residents of Vatican City, the Diocese of Rome, the chapters of the major basilicas of Rome, the Roman Curia, the Eastern churches and religious orders.
When the nine days have ended, the church begins following another set of rites and liturgies contained in the “Ordo Rituum Conclavis” (“Rites of the Conclave”).
