Mourners returned to pay their
respects to Benedict XVI in St Peter's Basilica on Tuesday for
the second day of the former pope's the lying in state.
The pope emeritus died on New Year's Eve aged 95 after becoming
the first pope in 600 years to abdicate in February 2013.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Giorgia Meloni
were among the first people to visit the lying in state on
Monday, when around 65,000 people paid their respects.
The lying in state will continue on Wednesday.
Pope Francis will preside over his predecessor's funeral on
Thursday in St Peter's Square.
Benedict XVI will be placed in the former tomb of Pope Saint
John Paul II in the bowels of St Peter's, Vatican spokesman
Matteo Bruni said Monday.
The late Polish pope, who died in 2005 aged 85, was moved from
the tomb and up into the Basilica following his beatification in
2011.
John Paul II went on to become a saint in 2014 in a joint
canonization with an earlier pope, John XXIII.
Bruni said Benedict would be buried immediately after his
funeral on Thursday.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
