VATICAN CITY - To the sound of tolling bells, 12 pallbearers carried the wooden coffin of former pope Benedict out of St Peter’s Basilica on Thursday and placed it before thousands of faithful gathered in the square for his funeral.

Applause broke out across the vast square, which was shrouded in mist, in a sign of respect for Benedict, a hero to Roman Catholic conservatives, who shocked the world by resigning nearly a decade ago.

Pope Francis, 86, who led the funeral services, tenderly touched the coffin of his predecessor as he stood supported on a cane before tens of thousands of mourners, with some calling for the late pontiff to be made a saint.

Benedict’s death on Saturday brought to an end a decade of a former pope living side-by-side with his successor in the Vatican, and it was the first time in more than 200 years that a pontiff had led the funeral service for his predecessor.

His death was a loss for Catholic conservatives who yearned for a return to a more traditional Church symbolised by Benedict, who shocked the world in 2013, by becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign instead of reigning for life.

At the end of the funeral in St. Peter’s Square, some people shouted in Italian “Santo Subito!” (Make him a saint now!), the same phrase used at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, although by many more people then.

Three of the last five popes have been made saints, but only around a third of all pontiffs have been canonised in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

Italian police said about 50,000 people were in the square, including a few heads of state and some European royals. About 200,000 people filed past Benedict’s body while it was lying-in-state for three days until Wednesday evening.

Among those at the funeral were Germans in traditional Bavarian outfits carrying flags and standards of the area of Germany where Benedict was born.

“Even though at our age we were just children when he was pope, he left his mark,” Xavier Mora, 24, a Spaniard who is studying for the priesthood in Rome, told Reuters as he approached the square with two other seminarians.

“We have been studying his theology for three years and even though we did not know him personally we have great affection and esteem for him,” he said.

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.

On Wednesday evening, his body was placed in a cypress coffin for the funeral.

Benedict was to be interred in a tomb in the crypt beneath the basilica, where John Paul II’s body lay before it was moved for his beatification in 2011. He was made a saint in 2014.

Portugal has declared a national day of mourning on Thursday, while Italy ordered that flags around the country be flown at half mast.

In Germany, church bells will ring out at 11am in memory of the first German pope in 1,000 years.

Security operation

Francis – who praised the “noble, kind” Benedict after his death at the monastery – had the unusual experience of presiding over his funeral.

The last time a pope presided over the funeral of his predecessor was in 1802, when Pius VII led the ceremony for Pius VI – but the circumstances were very different.

Pius VI died in 1799 in exile, a prisoner of France, and was buried in Valence. His successor had his remains exhumed and brought back to Italy, before he was treated to a papal funeral at St Peter’s.

Around 1,000 police provided security at the funeral, bolstered by numerous civilians from Italy’s civil protection service, while more than 1,000 journalists were accredited.

The air space around the tiny Holy See was closed off for the day.

The only official delegations were from Germany and Italy. Other dignitaries, including Belgian and Spanish royals, the presidents of Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Slovenia and Togo, and the premiers of the Czech Republic, Gabon and Slovakia among others attended in a personal capacity.

The service followed traditional papal funerals, with a few changes to prayers and readings to reflect Benedict’s status as emeritus pope.

Before being laid in the crypt, his cypress coffin was placed first inside a zinc coffin, then a wooden case.

As is traditional, coins and medals minted during his papacy and a written text describing his pontificate, sealed in a metal cylinder, were to be placed alongside his body. AFP, REUTERS