RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Pope Francis has paid tribute to his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in a book out today “The Successor”.
Vatican News reported he says that Benedict was patient and kind, and defended him against his critics who accused him of heresy.
Benedict resigned due to ill health and lived for ten years in Rome after Pope Francis was elected.
In the book, Pope Francis explained that Benedict never opposed any of his decisions: “He never withdrew his support from me.
Maybe there was something he didn’t agree with, but he never said it.” The men were obviously close and the Pope recounts the day when he said goodbye to Benedict on his death bed, holding his hand and staying with him: “I said a few words to him affectionately and blessed him. That’s how we said goodbye.” Pope Francis revealed he has ordered a revision of papal funerals, and in future the Pope’s body will not lie outside the coffin on a raised plinth – catafalque – with pillows, saying that Popes “should be watched over and buried like any other child of the church. With dignity, like any Christian.”