Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda will attend the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Thursday, the president’s press service has confirmed.
In his condolence message, the Lithuanian leader said Benedict XVI wanted Christianity to play an important unifying role in today’s overly consumerist and divided world.
“We have lost a clergyman whose teachings have always placed the world and the person at the centre of today’s world,” Nausėda said in his message of condolence on Monday. “In thinking about this, Benedict XVI drew on the great sages of Christianity and wanted Christianity to play an important unifying role in our over-consumerist, divided world.”
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who in 2013 was the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign as head of the Catholic Church, passed away at the age of 95 on Saturday, the Vatican has said.
Pope Francis, who replaced Benedict XVI after his resignation, will lead the funeral service in Saint Peter’s square in Rome and afterwards Benedict XVI will be buried in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.
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