Friday, April 08, 2005
THE UNOFFICIAL CANONIZATION
"We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the father's house, that he sees us and blesses us," he said to applause, even among the prelates, as he pointed up to the third-floor window above the square.
With those words used during the homily of the funeral Mass, Cardinal Ratzinger echoed the demands of the crowd:
Ratzinger was interrupted again toward the end of the Mass by several minutes of cheers, rhythmic applause and shouts of "Giovanni Paolo Santo" or "Saint John Paul," from the crowd. The eruption of cheers came right before the Litany of Saints chant, in which the names of the saints are read.
Prior to Vatican II, funeral Masses were solemn affairs intended to bring grace to the recently departed in the hope that the stay in Purgatory would be shortened. Since Vatican II the change in the color of funeral vestments from the somber black reflects a change in thinking to one of celebration that the deceased is most likely already in Heaven. This morning's Mass certainly reflected that new thinking.
The unembalmed body of John Paul II--a body that nevertheless did not repulse anyone with evidence of decay--was laid to rest:
The coffin was definitively closed with red bands and both papal and Vatican seals, and nested inside a second casket of zinc and then within a third of walnut. The outside casket bears the name of the pope, his cross and his papal coat of arms.
When will those seals be broken?
The fact that his body was not embalmed brought the story of Lazarus in the tomb immediately to mind when it was announced. That reference to Lazarus was re-echoed today in the final words of the funeral Mass: "May you have eternal rest with the poor man Lazarus in Heaven."
How long will it be before the official canonization is announced?
