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Benedict XVI’s funeral: How to watch, what to expect

The funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be held on Thursday in Rome in St. Peter’s Square at 9:30 a.m. local time.

For those who wish to watch the funeral live in the United States, it will begin at 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time. EWTN’s live coverage begins at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time on cable television, as well as on EWTN’s YouTube Channel, Facebook, and website.

EWTN’s YouTube channel can be found here. Its Facebook can be found here. EWTN’s webpage where the funeral is livestreaming can be found here.

Your local broadcast times for cable television and a full schedule are available here. The funeral broadcast coverage will last approximately three and a half hours.

If you miss the live coverage, EWTN will rebroadcast the funeral on cable the same day at 2:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

Before the funeral Mass, there will be a rosary prayed in St. Peter’s Square. At 8:50 a.m. Central European Standard Time, Benedict’s coffin, which is currently lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, will be transported from the basilica for the funeral.

Pope Francis will preside over the funeral Mass.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters that the funeral Mass for the pope emeritus “roughly follows that reserved for a supreme pontiff” but has some changes.

Bruni said that the Mass will include “some original elements, adaptations due to the particularity of the situation, and others missing that belong to the reigning pontiff.”

Some of the missing elements, Bruni said, include the “final supplication of the Diocese of Rome and of the Eastern Churches foreseen in the rites that close the funeral of the Ultima Commendatio (Final Commendation) and the Valedictio (Valediction).”

The Mass will be “different,” Bruni said, “not those foreseen by the Lectionary for the ritual Masses.”

The faithful can follow along with the prayers and readings that were released by the Vatican for the funeral Mass.

The readings for the Mass will be Isaiah 29:16–19 in Spanish; Psalm 23 sung in Latin; 1 Peter 1: 3–9 in English, and the Gospel of Luke 23: 39–46 read in Italian.

Read more at Catholic News Agency 

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