The 30 meter high Christmas tree on St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican is festively decorated. The fir tree was set up on December 4 and should remain there until January 7. But now the tree must disappear prematurely, KathPress news agency reports.
The reason for this: the spruce blocks the view of the funeral service for the late Pope Benedict XVI. († 95), which will take place on Thursday. Since media companies pay a hefty sum for a seat in St. Peter’s Square, no one wants their view blocked by the Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree caused problems from the start. With the originally intended silver fir came conservation issues and a replacement tree had to be arranged.
Burial in the crypt
It is unclear how long the spruce can stand. The earliest the tree could be removed was Thursday morning, as thousands of people will line up Wednesday night to say goodbye to the pope’s body. After the funeral service, Benedict XVI. buried in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican – in the former tomb of his predecessor John Paul II († 84), who died in 2005.
The crypt is also called the Vatican Caves. It lies below the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and a total of 62 popes are buried in it. After his beatification in 2011, the coffin containing the body of John Paul II was moved to St. Sebastian’s Chapel in the aisle of the cathedral.
A crypt is a subterranean vault of a church, usually containing a burial complex and located below the main altar or the eastern end of the church. The first Christians buried their dead in catacombs and in the early Middle Ages churches were often built on the graves of martyrs or founders of religious orders. It was only later that ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries found their final resting place in crypts. (lrc/AFP)