VATICAN CITY. Benedict XVI “defended me on civil unions”. Joseph Ratzinger was “a great man, not attached to power, I brought him gifts from travels”. The book published by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein on the day of the funeral “I experienced it as a lack of nobility and humanity”. Pope Francis states this in the book interview with Javier Martinez-Brocal «El sucesor» (Planeta editions), out tomorrow 3 April. The Pontiff also reveals the news that will concern his funeral rite: upon death Jorge Mario Bergoglio will be exposed in the coffin and not on a catafalque, “with dignity but like every Christian”. There will be one wake and not two and no closing ceremony. Thus the Bishop of Rome simplified the funeral rite.
Remembering the funeral of Benedict XVI, Francis says: «It will be the last funeral vigil celebrated like this, with the Pope's body exposed outside the coffin, on a catafalque. I spoke to the master of ceremonies and we eliminated this and many other things, the current ritual was too overloaded.”
The Pope also confirms that he has given instructions to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore. The Pontiff explains that after the statue of the Queen of Peace «there is a room where they kept the candelabra. That is the place, they confirmed to me that everything is ready for his future burial.
Bergoglio says that the Basilica has been dear to him since before he became Pope, and that he often went there to pray. He then tells an anecdote: once a man there tried to scam him by trying to sell him a watch. «By instinct» Bergoglio said that he had no money and then «they told me that if I had taken out my wallet he would have slapped me and taken it away. Impressive”.
In the 2013 Conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had votes from the first vote, on March 12; then on the 13th “many” but “I interpreted them” as a way of “depositing the votes”. Francis also reveals another event that happened in the Conclave in those hours: «I remember that some people approached to speak to Cardinal Angelo Scola and asked him something. Then I learned that he had told them: “Vote for Bergoglio”.
Benedict XVI defended Pope Francis from the accusations of some prelates regarding the statements that Bergoglio himself had expressed on civil unions between homosexuals: «Some went to Benedict to say that I was saying heresies, he listened to them and with authority helped them to distinguish things » between Christian marriage and civil unions. «He said to them: “This is not heresy”. How he defended me!
In the volume, Francis defines Benedict as “a great man, he was not attached to power”, and his resignation was a sign of “honesty”. He also says that Ratzinger did not always agree with his decisions but “with his silence he always respected them”.
At the beginning of the pontificate, in that greeting at Castel Gandolfo, Francis and Benedict spoke about the issue of abuse: «I changed some of the people as he had suggested to me».
Francis also speaks of Gaenswein's book “Nothing but the truth”: it “pained him that Benedict was used”, and “he felt great pain” at the fact that that book came out precisely during the hours of Ratzinger's funeral ; «The fact that on the day of the funeral a book is published that he turned me upside down, telling things that aren't true, is very sad. Of course it doesn't affect me, in the sense that it doesn't affect me. But it hurt me that Benedetto was used. The book was published on the day of the funeral, and I experienced it as a lack of nobility and humanity.”
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