Pope Francis will preside Thursday over the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI at the Vatican, an unprecedented event in modern times expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
Almost a decade after Benedict became the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, his successor will deliver the homily in the vast St Peter’s Square before his body is laid in the papal tombs beneath St Peter’s Basilica.
The German emeritus pope was no longer a head of state but world leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will attend the funeral, alongside European royals and more than 4,000 cardinals, priests and bishops, according to the Vatican.
Queues of people, including many priests and nuns, formed before dawn in thick fog to enter the square, across which thousands of chairs have been laid out
