Thousands mourn Benedict XVI at funeral celebrated by pope

Pope Francis honored his predecessor Benedict XVI, the German theologian who made history by retiring, presiding Thursday over a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff by a living one before thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s Square.
Bells tolled and the faithful applauded as pallbearers carried Benedict’s cypress coffin out of the fog-shrouded basilica and rested it before the altar. Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, bent down and kissed a book of the Gospels that was left open on the coffin.
Francis, wearing the crimson vestments typical of papal funerals, then took his place and opened the Mass with a prayer, Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of regular people flocked to the ceremony, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral for an pope emeritus in modern times low-key.