Africa-Press – Seychelles. Many are displaced for this special mass
A requiem mass (repose) was celebrated Wednesday for Pope Benedict XVI at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Victoria by the Bishop of Port-Victoria Alain Harel.
The church was filled with apostles from all over the island to pay homage to Pope Benedict XVI.
During his homily, Bishop Harel spoke about the life of the late Pope Benoit XVI and his last words. “According to the reports of the Vatican, his last words were ‘Seigneur je t’aime’, the 95-year-old pope said in Italian, in a very weak but ‘very distinct’ voice. We pray to the Lord that he may have eternal life.
Bishop Harel also spoke about the encyclicals of Benedict XVI:
2005: Deus Caritas Est: “God is love” is the first encyclical of Pope Benoît XVI, published on December 25, 2005, which does not concern morals or liturgy, but the very heart of Christian theology: God is love. It is a sign addressed to the world about what God is for humanity in the history of salvation.
2007: Spe Salvi: “Sauvés par l’espérance” is the second encyclical, published on November 30, 2007, it deals with hope, starting from theological foundations, and its connection with faith.
2009: Caritas in veritate: Signed on June 29, 2009, the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the encyclical Caritas in veritate (“Charity in truth”) takes up the social subjects of the Populorum Progressio (written by Paul VI in 1967) ). This 3rd encyclical of Pope Benoît XVI intends to develop certain aspects of sustainable development in respect of human dignity.
Monseigneur Harel asked all those present to reread these encyclicals.
Let us remind you that it was Pope Francis who presided on Thursday, January 5th, at a particularly historic requiem mass for his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benoît XVI. It is estimated that fifty thousand people filled the Place Saint-Pierre last Thursday to celebrate the life of Pope Emeritus Benoît XVI.
The death of the pope emeritus, on Saturday, December 31, 2022, in the matinee at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, where he had retired after his resignation in 2013, at the end of almost a decade of two popes (former and current ) living in the Vatican at the same time. The resignation of Benoît XVI in 2013 was the first in more than 600 years, and his funeral last Thursday was the first in more than 200 years during which a reigning pontiff blessed the body of his predecessor before burial.
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