and healthy new years eve. we are continuing to follow the breaking news out of the vatican. pope benedict the 16th has died at the age of 95. the vatican says the retired pope passed away early this morning. his funeral will be held on january 5th in st. peters square. presided over by pope francis. that is the man who became leader of the catholic church after benedict resigned from the role in 2013. msnbc looks back on his life and legacy. it was a resignation that shocked the catholic church. pope benedict, less than eight years after his election, he became the first pope and seven centuries to voluntarily retire. he said that he lacked the strength of mind and body to do the job. he felt like he was being prevented from being the pope in a way that he felt the pope should be present for the people of god. he was born joseph rat singer in wartime germany. in the deeply catholic weijia bavaria. he and his brother george people became priests. both eventually landed
now, an interesting fact is that the prefect of rome today, italian media expects during those days between that and the future, tearing the, fifth next thursday, he expects about 60,000 people to come down for that occasion. compare that to the more than 4 million pilgrims who came down for the funeral of the last pope who died, who was, of course, john paul the second. then on thursday, the vatican said that the funeral wouldn t be held in the morning, in st. peters square. you will be presided by pope francis, again, the first time in modern times we know that a pope has presided over another. then, the body will be buried in the vatican grotto, which is a tumult near st. peters to me, below st. peters basilica, and an interesting fact about that is that is where john paul the second was buried before he was moved to the final resting place inside st. peters basilica. claudio, i want to ask you here. have you been able to chat with anybody? what is the lasting legacy you
Benedict has died at the age of 95. in a statement saying the pope has to wake early this morning. his funeral will be held on january 5th in st. peters square, presided over by pope francis, the man who became the leader of the catholic church, after benedict resigned from the role in 2013. joining us now is nbc s foreign correspondent, claudio la bungle at the vatican. claudio, what can we expect here in the next several days? hey, lindsey. we ll, if attic in just issued some new guidelines in the last 20 minutes. what s going to happen is until the january, that remains of emeritus benedict will remain behind me, where he will receive no visitors and no official prayers, but then, on the morning, in the morning on monday, the body will be moved inside st. peters basilica to give the npc the chance to give their last farewell.
And healthy new years eve. we are continuing to follow the breaking news out of the vatican. pope benedict the 16th has died at the age of 95. the vatican says the retired pope passed away early this morning. his funeral will be held on january 5th in st. peters square. presided over by pope francis. that is the man who became leader of the catholic church after benedict resigned from the role in 2013. msnbc looks back on his life and legacy. it was a resignation that shocked the catholic church. pope benedict, less than eight years after his election, he became the first pope and seven centuries to voluntarily retire. he said that he lacked the strength of mind and body to do the job. he felt like he was being prevented from being the pope in a way that he felt the pope