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Central Florida author and religious expert talks about Pope Benedict XVI’s impact

By WFTV.com News Staff
By WFTV.com News Staff

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As mourners continue to arrive in Rome to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI, Central Florida author Karl A. Schultz, and Pope expert, provides insight into Pope Benedict’s impact on the world and in Daytona Beach.

Read: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dead at 95

Schultz found the day Pope Benedict died as “providential.”

“He Died on one of two days in the church’s liturgical year, which the prologue of John’s gospel, the first 18 verses...was read. That happened to be the passage that Pope Benedict was very instrumental in promoting throughout the church,” Schultz said. “It is kind of fitting that he died on one of the two days in which that was the gospel of the day.”

Pope Benedict also had a connection to the Basilica of Saint Paul in Daytona Beach.

In 2006, Pope Benedict designated St. Paul Church as a Basilica. The church sees hundreds of visitors a year because of the designation.

“We have pride in the church and its beauty because it is almost 100 years old, but I think it is just the recognition, we also had recognition for St. John Paul II, there’s a plague there as well, and we have Benedict’s coat of arms in the church in recognition of him declaring it a Basilica,” Schultz said.

Read: Photos: Pope Benedict XVI through the years

Pope Benedict’s body is lying in state ahead of his funeral on Jan. 5. at a funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

He will be buried in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.

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Through the years VATICAN CITY - APRIL 19: Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (C) of Germany, waves from a balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals April 19, 2005 in Vatican City. The 265th Pope will lead the world's 1 billion Catholics. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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