Pope Francis officiated the funeral of former Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, delivering a homily and comparing his predecessor to Jesus in front of tens of thousands of mourners gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Reuters reports.

To the sound of bells, 12 coffin bearers carried the coffin with the body of the former Pope Benedict XVI from St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday and deposited it in front of the thousands of believers gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Applause rang out on the vast, fog-shrouded cobbled esplanade as a sign of respect for Benedict XVI, a hero to Roman Catholic conservatives who shocked the world by abdicating his role as pope nearly a decade ago.

The funeral of Benedict XVI ended on Thursday with the calls of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square for the former pope to be recognized „Santo subito” („holy immediately”), but also with emotional scenes, at the end of the ceremony, when the current leader of at the Vatican, he put his hand on the coffin for a moment of prayer, before it was transported to St. Peter’s Basilica to be lowered into a crypt, reports ANSA.

Agerpres