SW News: Believers can visit the grave of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI from Sunday, January 8, in the Vatican Grottoes which is located underneath St Peter’s Basilica.
Visitors will be allowed access to the tomb from Sunday morning, says a statement from the Vatican Press Office. They will be permitted to enter the grottoes from 9 am Rome time.

Benedict XVI’s mortal remains were first placed in a cypress coffin which was then kept in a lead and finally enclosed in an oak coffin after the celebration of the Requiem Mass by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and presided over by Pope Francis. Coins and medals struck during the pontificate of Benedict XVI were kept in the coffin as well the pallium he wore and a metal cylinder that has a deed of his life and pontificate. The triple-sealed coffin was then lowered into the first grave of Pope St John Paul II in accordance with the wishes of the late former pontiff. The grave was covered with a white marble slab having the name of the 265th pontiff to sit on the throne of St Peter.

After the beatification of Pope John Paul II in 2011, his coffin was brought into the Basilica and placed in the Chapel of St Sebastian.

Tens of thousands of people took part in the funeral Mass of Benedict XVI on January 5 in St Peter’s Square and it was offered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, and presided over by the Holy Father. The concelebrants included the Major Archbishops and Patriarchs of the Oriental Churches. Among them were Cardinal Bechara Rai of the Maronite Church, Patriarch Youssef Absi of the Melkite Church, Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of the Syriac Church, Cardinal George Alencherry of the Syro Malabar Church, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis of the Syro Malankara Church and Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako of the Chaldean Church to name a few.

Also present for the funeral were the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople’s representatives Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy and delegates from the Eastern, Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and Rumanian Orthodox Churches. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative Archbishop Ian Ernst and representatives of the Methodist, Lutheran, World Wide Evangelical Churches, the Jewish community of Rome, Muslim community and Buddhists in the Italian capital were present.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella were present for the Funeral Mass along with the royalty of Spain and Belgium. Ministers and envoys from more than 100 nations also took part in the Mass to pay their respects to the former head of state of the Vatican.