much for joining our special live coverage of the funeral of pope americas benedict the 16th. thousands of people are gathered in st. peters square right now. to witness something we have not seen in hundreds of years. the current pope, presiding at the funeral mass of the man who proceeded him. the coffin carrying the body of benedict was taken from st. peters basilica a short time ago through its journey to the courtyard, allowing the faithful to say their prayers ahead of the funeral. matt joseph rat singer, the son of humble parents, a police officer and cook. entered the priesthood in what would appear to be his calling as a university professor, teaching philosophy and theology. also beginning what would be a prolific and deeply intellectual pursuit as a writer. that very skill as a theologian led to his appointment as the archbishop of munich by pope john paul the second. the man he would not just succeed but also the man he would serve for nearly a quarter century as
course was a world from all over the world. people, not only spilling out of their piazzas spilling down the streets. millions came and so i think one of the biggest differences for us here on the ground will just be purely the size and the scale and the spectacle of this mass. as far as the actual mass. the readings are slightly different. there are certain readings reserved for sitting popes. chris everything will be slightly pared down and slightly tweaked. but really as far as the layout of the mass. and the function and the sections of the mass we are expecting it to be very similar to a sitting pope. thank you so much for that molly. also with this, for our coverage from the vatican nbc news senior vatican analyst george weigel and msnbc vatican analyst devin and vatican correspondent at the national catholic reporter and msnbc analyst christopher white, it is good to have all of you there and george pope francis will not be giving a eulogy which might come as a surprise to p
the 24 years where he was heading up the vatican investigation office, he was serving the agenda of john paul the second. and i think that when he became pope, he said you know, my primary role here is not as the feel ocean-in-chief or the enforcer of doctrine, my primary role here is as a pastor. and that is the attitude he adopted. and when he did undertake this historic step to actually, i don t know who in the world gives up that kind of power voluntarily right. it just does not happen that often. when he took that step, he was doing as a pastor. he had always been aware of his shortcomings. knew that he was not an administrator. he told the cardinals that in the conclave in 2005. and said look, i if you are looking for somebody to govern the church as an administrator, i m not it. but i also think that he had a pastors heart and he certainly had that. a pastor s heart kathleen and i also think that it was an
across and i know that even when i went back to his homeland in bavaria. everybody who knew him for generations looked back at joseph robson there as somebody who was so close to them even though he chose to stay in the vatican after his resignation. rather than go back to his homeland which he loves so very much so i think that narrative of people realizing was a little distorted because he is really somebody very gentle and very loving with a true passion for god. george who is the pope emeritus that you knew, who was the pope you knew, you knew him when he was serving. john paul. and i wonder how you account for the man you knew as opposed to the view of a lot of catholics, american catholics have of him. a name that stuck. a nickname that stuck, which was the rottweiler. because of the traditional church doctrine he worked so much about. chris, that ridiculous and
this is a world in which our attention is so dispersed. it has cast across 1000 different screens. and oddly enough, we just saw this with the queen of england. oddly enough, it is these medieval institutions that seem to have the ability to create a moon landing moment. which we are all watching, we are all listening. and the office is precisely one of them. because it unites so many people across so many boundaries. as i m watching these pictures from outside the basilica, i m reminded the vatican spokesperson said at the request of pope emeritus that this would be a simple funeral. it does not come across on television as a simple funeral. now, we should say that this is not i guess in common parlance a state funeral. the heads of state all around the world have not been invited. joe biden is not there. queen sofia of spain s. there the u.s. ambassador to the holy see john donnelly s.