History has been made at the Vatican. Former Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s funeral mass on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square and planned by current Pope Francis was one of a kind. It was an unusual and unprecedented event in the history of the Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict seen here with Former Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who died at 95
The event marked the first occasion in modern times that a sitting pontiff had planned and presided over the funeral of his predecessor or a former pope since the Middle Ages – and who the first ever of one who resigned.
Popes typically hold office until death, but Benedict became the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life. The last pope to step down was Gregory XII, who quit in 1415 to end a civil war within the church. Benedict died at the age of 95 on December 31 at a monastery in Vatican City.
Pope Benedict was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013 citing his advanced age as a reason he was no longer fit to lead.
The ceremony was similar to that of a reigning pope but with some modifications. Benedict was named pope emeritus during the funeral, and the language of some prayers was different because he was not the reigning pope when he died.
Benedict’s election as the 265th pontiff in 2005 at age 78 occurred following the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict, who became the oldest person to be elected since 1730, was criticized for his handling of the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. His efforts to rid the church of what he called “filth” went further than those of John Paul II, but he was reluctant to hold bishops accountable. Pope Benedict XVI was a champion of Catholic tradition.
Benedict was known as a conservative academic, teacher of the faith, staunch defender of Catholic faith and more conservative than his successor, Pope Francis, who has made moves to soften the Vatican’s position on abortion and homosexuality, as well as doing more to deal with the sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the church in recent years and clouded Benedict’s legacy.
After three days of lying in state within St.Peter’s Basilica for people to offer their final farewells, his remains were buried in the Vatican crypt under the basilica , in the first tomb of John Paul II. The tomb was vacated after John Paul II’s body and remains were moved to a chapel inside the Basilica after he became a saint. About 90 popes are buried in the tombs, while some, including John Paul II, are buried in the church itself.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Marktl, Germany, Benedict who never wanted to be pope spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican where he passed away.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
