The solemn funeral concluded with the liturgical moment of the 'farewell', through which the Pope emeritus is entrusted to God.
A moment of prayer and emotion
: before Benedict XVI's coffin left the churchyard of St. Peter's, Francis he stood up and put his hand on the coffin.
A few moments, but the whole procession stopped for Bergoglio's last farewell to Joseph Ratzinger.
Ratzinger's body was buried in the Vatican grottoes.
The Vatican basilica will reopen this afternoon but it will not be possible to go down to the Vatican Grottoes to see the tomb of Benedict XVI.
"They have to complete the work, I don't think before Sunday", replies Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni to journalists' questions
And shivering in a Rome unusually shrouded in fog,
politicians, heads of state and religious representatives
arrived out of breath this morning at St. Peter's to pay their last respects to Pope Ratzinger.
Among others, President Mattarella, Prime Minister Meloni and former Prime Minister Draghi were present.
About 50,000 faithful attended the funeral
While the funeral rite for Pope Emeritus Joseph Ratzinger was concluding, after the last 'Amen' pronounced by Pope Francis,
the crowd of faithful present in the square chanted the cry " Holy immediately!".
Ratzinger, politicians and crowned heads in St. Peter's
"Blessed, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be perfect in hearing his voice definitively and forever".
This was said by the Pope, who arrived in St. Peter's Square in a wheelchair, in his homily for the funeral of Benedict XVI, asking to "entrust our brother to the hands of the Father: may these hands of mercy find his lamp lit with the oil of the Gospel, which he shed and testified during his life".
The celebration of Benedict XVI's funeral was preceded by the recitation of the rosary.
Ratzinger's coffin was placed in the churchyard.
An open Gospel was placed above the coffin.
It was a long and moving applause
to welcome the
ANSA Agency
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The wait.
St. Peter's Square is already full in the early hours of a foggy day.
German flags flutter in the sky and the race for a seat is tight.
The first block in front of the church is already full.
Around several banners with the inscription "Danke Benedikt" and a river of people is still preparing to arrive to pass the controls and thus have access to the square for a last farewell to the pope emeritus.
The thousands of faithful who will attend the funeral of Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square arrived at dawn, and perhaps even earlier.
At 6.30 the queue arriving from the Porta Sant'Anna side was already very long.
The area around the Vatican is all cordoned off up to the end of Via della Conciliazione and to access the gates, where there are security checkpoints, you have to make long detours.
In fact, via della Conciliazione cannot be crossed even on foot.
The deployment of the security forces and the vehicles of the fire brigade and the police that can be seen in the nearby squares is great.
One hundred thousand people are expected at the ceremony.
The three day giveaway.
In three days, almost 200,000 people (195,000) paid homage to the pope emeritus, who died on 31 December at the age of 95,
and whose body was left on display for 72 hours inside the Basilica, symbol of Christianity.
An uninterrupted wave of faithful and tourists, such as those expected for tomorrow, when Pope Francis will preside over the funeral for his last farewell to his predecessor.
"He was a great teacher of catechesis", the words of Bergoglio from the Paul VI Hall where he held the traditional Wednesday general audience.
"His acute and polite thought of him-he added-of him was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us to the encounter with Jesus".
Among the faithful lining up for the funeral of Benedict XVI
ANSA Agency
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"He fought firmly against the crimes committed by representatives of the clergy against minors or vulnerable people, continually calling the Church to conversion, prayer, penance and purification. (ANSA)
