Pope Benedict XVI: Three-day lying in state begins at the Vatican

His successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral service in St Peter's Square on Thursday

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful in front of the Old Chapel in Regensburg, southern Germany, in 2006. AP

Thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI when his lying in state begins at the Vatican on Monday.

The former pontiff died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95.

He led the Catholic Church for eight years before, in 2013, becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign.

His remains will lie in state for three days.

Benedict's successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral in St Peter's Square on Thursday, before he is laid to rest in the tombs beneath St Peter's Basilica.

He died at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican gardens, which had been his home for the past decade.

The Vatican on Sunday released images of Benedict lying in state in the monastery chapel, dressed in red papal mourning robes and with a gold-edged mitre.

He shocked the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced in Latin that he was resigning, telling cardinals he was too old and frail to lead an institution with more than 1.3 billion members.

“There were moments of joy and light, but also moments that were not easy … There were moments … when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping,” Benedict told his last general audience, a gathering of more than 150,000 people.

His resignation created the extraordinary situation of having two “men in white” — Francis and Benedict — at the Vatican.

Benedict's funeral will also break new ground.

Papal deaths usually trigger the calling of a conclave of cardinals to elect a successor, but this time Francis remains in post, and will lead proceedings.

Pope Benedict XVI - in pictures

Joseph Ratzinger as a schoolboy in Aschau am Inn in 1932. AFP

Joseph Ratzinger, 10, with classmates in Aschau am Inn, Bavaria, where he went to school from 1932 to 1937. AFP

Joseph Ratzinger as a German Air Force assistant in 1943. AFP

Ratzinger, right, and his brother Georg, left, after their ordination in 1951 with his sister Maria, his mother Maria and his father Josef. AFP

Ratzinger during an open-air mass in 1952. AFP

Joseph Ratzinger, a professor of theology, with Cologne's Cardinal Joseph Frings, who took him to the council at the Vatican as an adviser in the early 1960s. AFP

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1977 in Vatican City. AFP

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Mother Teresa at the 85th German Catholics Days in Freiburg in September 1978. AFP

Archbishop of Munich and Freising Josef Ratzinger, right, bids farewell to Munich to become Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. AFP

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1994 signing an autograph during the 1,240th anniversary of the city of Fulda, Germany. AFP

Cardinal Ratzinger, centre, his brother Georg, the Kapellmeister of the Cathedral of Regensburg, and their sister Maria Ratzinger in Munich. AFP

Cardinal Ratzinger, centre, arrives to lead the funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square at the Vatican City in 2005. AFP

Joseph Ratzinger, the new Pope Benedict XVI, after being elected the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, April 19, 2005. AFP

Pope Benedict XVI on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals. AFP

Pope Benedict XVI at the traditional weekly general audience in St Peter's square at the Vatican, December 7, 2005. AFP

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, December 25, 2007. Reuters

Pope Benedict greets Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair, speaker of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates, at the Vatican, October 22, 2008. Reuters

Pope Benedict is welcomed by Jordan's King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania at Amman airport, May 8, 2009. Reuters

Pope Benedict in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City, May 12, 2009. Reuters

Pope Benedict and Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah during a private meeting at the Vatican, May 6, 2010. Reuters

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with the Pope at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, September 16, 2010. Reuters

Pope Benedict arrives in Havana, Cuba, March 27, 2012. AFP

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for a meeting with youths at Bkerke in Harissa, near Beirut, September 15, 2012. Reuters

A mass held by Pope Benedict in Beirut, September 16, 2012. Reuters

On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict announced that he would resign on February 28, the first pope in centuries to do so. AFP

The former pope arrives for the canonisation ceremony of popes John XXIII and John Paul II at the Vatican, April 27, 2014. Reuters

Emeritus Pope Benedict, left, as Pope Francis arrives to lead a mass to create 20 new cardinals, February 14, 2015. Reuters

Pope Francis, left, with Benedict at the Vatican, June 28, 2017. AFP

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at Munich Airport before his departure to Rome, June 22, 2020. Reuters

Benedict's funeral will be “solemn but simple”, the Vatican said.

It has yet to say who will be attending, beyond that it will include delegations from Italy and Benedict's native Germany.

The last papal funeral, of John Paul II in 2005, drew one million faithful and heads of state from around the world, although Benedict was a more divisive figure.

A brilliant theologian, he alienated many Catholics with his staunch defence of traditional values and as pope struggled to impose his authority on the church as it battled a string of crises, including over clerical sex abuse.

Benedict repeatedly apologised for the Church's failure to root out sexual abuse of children by clergy and he was the first pope to take serious action against abuse.

But in 2022, an independent report in Germany claimed that Benedict had failed to take action in four abuse cases when he was Archbishop of Munich, between 1977 and1982.

He acknowledged in an emotional personal letter that errors had occurred and asked for forgiveness. His lawyers argued that he was not directly to blame.

A portrait of Pope Benedict XVI at a commemorative mass at in Altotting, Bavaria, southern Germany. The former pope had strong ties to the area. Getty Images

After the election of Pope Francis, Benedict moved to spend his final years in prayer, reading, playing the piano and receiving friends.

Although he said he would remain “hidden from the world”, Benedict sometimes caused controversy through his writings.

In an essay for a Church magazine in Germany in 2019, he blamed the crisis over the abuse of children by priests on the effect of the 1960s sexual revolution, what he called homosexual cliques in seminaries and a general collapse in morality.

Critics accused him of trying to shift the blame away from the Church hierarchy.

Pope Francis, an Argentine Jesuit who is most at home among his flock, paid tribute to Benedict in three New Year's events at the Vatican at the weekend, “thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church”.

Francis, 86, has raised the prospect that he might follow Benedict's example and step down if he became unable to carry out his duties.

In July, suffering knee problems that have forced him to rely on a wheelchair, he admitted he needed to slow down or think about stepping aside.

Last month, Francis revealed he had signed a resignation letter when he took office should poor health prevent him from carrying out his duties.