WATCH | Pope Benedict XVI laid to rest

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI at the Vatican, an unprecedented event in modern times expected to draw tens of thousands of people.

Almost a decade after Benedict became the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, his successor will lead a requiem mass in the vast St Peter's Square before his body is laid in the papal tombs beneath St Peter's Basilica.

Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, died on Saturday aged 95, bringing an end to an unprecedented situation of having two "men in white" -- he and Francis -- living in the Vatican.