The Vatican will celebrate two commemorative masses on the occasion of the third anniversary of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, which occurred on December 31, 2022, as reported by the Kath Press agency.
The liturgical celebrations will take place in different spaces of the Vatican and will be presided over by two cardinals who held relevant positions during the pontificate of Joseph Ratzinger.
The first mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, when Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, emeritus prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will preside over an Eucharistic celebration in English at St. Peter’s Basilica.
The service will take place at 6:00 PM, at the Altar of the Chair, one of the most significant spaces in the Vatican temple. Müller succeeded Ratzinger at the head of the then doctrinal dicastery, a position that the future Benedict XVI held for more than two decades.
On December 31, the exact date of the anniversary of his death, Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, will celebrate a mass in German in the Vatican Grottoes, near the tomb of Benedict XVI.
A Great Theologian
Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was one of the great Catholic theologians of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Born in Marktl am Inn (Germany) on April 16, 1927, he was ordained a priest in 1951 and developed a brilliant academic career as a theology professor. He participated as an expert in the Second Vatican Council, contributing decisively to its doctrinal works.
In 1977 he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and created cardinal by Saint Paul VI. From 1981 to 2005 he served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, becoming one of the main custodians of Catholic orthodoxy. Elected Pope on April 19, 2005, his pontificate was characterized by the defense of the faith, the centrality of the liturgy, and the dialogue between faith and reason.
On February 28, 2013, he resigned from the Petrine ministry, a historic gesture that he lived with discretion and a spirit of service. He died in the Vatican on December 31, 2022, at the age of 95, leaving a first-rate doctrinal and spiritual legacy for the Church.