The deadly rites of Pope XII are remembered for what went wrong. The body of the pope was based on cellophane and herbs in an experiment with a medical bucket, which caused the accumulation of gases, which ultimately overcame one of the Swiss guards who were on duty, while Pio was in a state.
His personal doctor was forbidden to play sports again. But the death of Pius XII in 1958, perhaps more significant for something else: it was the last dad, who usually used a three -level papal crown, a symbol of temporary power of the Church.
This richly decorated bandage has never been with a papal coffin. High Katafalko also disappeared to read the passage of the representative of God on earth. Instead: a complex pastor that represents pastoral care for Catholics.
For the last rituals of Pope Francis, which ends with its funeral terrain and burial on Saturday, they missed many more of these symbols, some, at their own request, the last blow of the unconventional dad into the classic monarchist dad.
Francisco’s body is in the basilica of San Pedro, underground and without any papal ornament. While potatoes are traditionally buried in three coffins invested on each other, respectively, from Cyparis, lead and oak, Francisco will be buried in one wooden coffin.
He is the first dad for more than a century that will not be buried in San Pedro, but will be directly buried in his beloved church in Rome, Santa -Maria Maggiore, with a simple registration in stone: “Francis”, the Latin version of his papal name.
“Pope Francis wanted to show that in his life and in his death he was faithful to the gospel message: a message of poverty, simplicity and fraternity towards everything,” said the historian Daniela Menazzi, the author of numerous books about the Catholic Church. “He tried to simplify the rituals so that when the broadcast of his death was broadcast, he was perceived as Christian, similar to any other Christians, as dad, he had special duties.”
This is not known about the papal funeral of the primitive church, but scientists believe that the potatoes of that time were buried in simple night ceremonies the day after his death, such as the believing currents of that time.
But since the church has acquired political power, fixing the direct government on the great extensions of the Italian peninsula, the rituals of papal death have become longer and longer, reflecting the funeral rites of European monarchies.
“Until the twentieth century, papal funeral rituals were very similar to the drawings of emperors and kings,” explains Maria Antonietta Visclia, an honorary professor of modern history at the University of Roman University of La Sapienza. “The emphasis on the spiritual aspect of the funeral of the pope is a more recent aspect,” he added.
Over the centuries, rituals have developed to authentify the death of potatoes, for example, a violation of the papal ring used to authentize official documents and seal the papal apartment to avoid plunder, they were made by the Church, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, on Monday evening after the death of Francisco.
Since the Middle Age, the deceased potato has remained for several days on more and more complex and high Birretes, which raised them over the devotees who gave their last respect.
The three -headed papal crown was placed next to the coffin. Cardinals, with bloody red clothing, were present during funeral rites.
“The funeral must clarify that the dad is dead, but also that the church continues through the cardinals,” said Agostino Paravichini Bagliani, an honorary professor of medieval history at the University of Losan.
Not all dead potatoes were revealed with reverence. Pope Formoso, who ruled the papal states for four stormy years in the ninth century, was exhumed nine months after his death, the court and convicted of his successor. His body was thrown into the Tiber, although he was later restored.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the death of unpopular popes often caused civilian and looting.
“There are many cases when, after the death of the pope, acts of violence and ritual robbery arise,” says the gig. “Dad was not only a spiritual leader, but also a prince.”
When Pope Alejandro VI died in 1503 from the alleged poisoning, his body was abandoned, while riots exploded in Rome.
After the death in 1559, the hated pope of Pablo IV, his subjects shot down his statue and placed a traditional Jewish curtain on his body, in the practice of desacralization.
Since the sixteenth century, most potatoes died in the Quirinale, built as the Pontiff’s residence, when he still had political control over Rome.
But this practice ended in the 1870s, when Rome was conquered by the kingdom of Italy, and the power of the Church was reduced to the Vatican.
Over the next decades, papal rituals changed, while the church fought with its small consequence and anti -cleler feeling.
The funeral of Pope XII in 1958, which included unsuccessful embalming, was the last to follow secular symbolism.
In the 1960s, the church began to change funeral rites in order to adapt them to modern sensitivity.
“Since 1963, the funeral has been reflecting the weakening of complex rituals,” said Christopher Belitto, a professor of history at the University of Kin.
Last year, Francisco approved the more simplification of the rites. The archbishop of Diego Ravelli said that the changes intended to emphasize that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is a pastor, not powerful.
Changes reflect the reformist vision of Francisco, which preferred simple white cash desks in front of red clothing.
“The medieval papacy is finished,” said Paravichini Bagliani. “Now we are in times of abandoning symbols and emphasis on what it means to be a religious person. Humility and simplicity are a new trend. ”
