Pope Francis to lead ex-pontiff Benedict's funeral

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. Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, died on Saturday aged 95, bringing an end to an unprecedented situation of having two "men in white" -- he and Francis -- living in the Vatican. On Wednesday evening, it was transferred into a cypress coffin for the funeral. Benedict will then be interred in a tomb in the crypt beneath the basilica, where John Paul II's body lay before it was moved for his beatification in 2011. He was made a saint in 2014. Portugal has declared a national day of mourning on Thursday, while in Italy, flags will be flown at half-mast on public buildings. In Germany, church bells will ring out at 11:00 am in memory of the first German pope in 1,000 years. ( Source AFP)