Pope Francis will hold a mass with tens of thousands of worshippers in St Peter’s Square starting at 9:30 am (0830 GMT).

The 86-year-old Argentinian will give the homily, and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will lead the service at the altar.

Afterwards, the body of Joseph Ratzinger – as the emeritus Pope was named when born in the German state of Bavaria in 1927 – will be buried in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica.

Among others, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz will attend the memorial. Bavarian premier Markus Söder is also expected.

Representing the German Catholic Church will be the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, as well as the archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, and the archbishop of Cologne, Rainer Maria Woelki.

Benedict XVI died at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95. He had been lying in state in St Peter’s Basilica since Monday so that the public could pay their respects.