The funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, scheduled for Thursday, will be similar to the traditions used in the ceremonies of his predecessors, but with adaptations because he is not a pontiff in office, the Vatican announced yesterday.

Benedict XVI died on December 31 at the age of 95, having abdicated in 2013, becoming the first to do so in six centuries. He has assumed the role of Pope Emeritus since Francis was chosen to replace him at the head of the Catholic Church.

"The liturgy, 'broadly speaking', follows the model of the funeral of a high pontiff" with "some particular elements that give the rite its originality", according to the Holy See spokesman, Matteo Bruni, quoted by Lusa, noting, however, that other elements will be absent "because they are proper to a reigning pontiff".

At the ceremony, presided over by Pope Francis, the final supplications of the Church of Rome and the Eastern Churches will be changed, as well as the readings, with a passage from the prophet Isaiah and the first letter of St. Peter planned.

Benedict XVI's body has been in a burning chamber inside St. Peter's Basilica since Monday, and will leave the church on Thursday at 8:50 a.m. local time, 40 minutes before the funeral begins, while the faithful pray the rosary.

Like his predecessors, Benedict XVI will be buried in a triple coffin inside the temple: first in a cypress coffin lined with crimson velvet, then in a sealed zinc coffin and finally in a third made of elm.

Inside, next to the body, there will be a metal cylinder containing a text telling the story of the German pontiff's papacy, as well as other objects, including medals and coins he minted.

The same thing happened at John Paul II's funeral, but unlike the ceremony, the text will not be read at Benedict XVI's funeral.

On the second day of the wake, an estimated 100,000 people gathered outside St. Peter's Basilica, which will be closed to the public on Wednesday evening.

After the funeral, Benedict XVI's triple coffin will be transferred to the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica, and by his wish, buried in the tomb that belonged to John Paul II, which was raised to the surface of the temple in 2011.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI shook the Church when he resigned from the pontificate for health reasons on February 11, 2013, two months before celebrating eight years in office.

Joseph Ratzinger, who was Pope between 2005 and 2013, was born in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, in the German diocese of Passau, making him the first German to head the Catholic Church in many centuries and a representative of the Church's more dogmatic line.

The sexual abuse of minors by priests and "Vatileaks", the case in which confidential documents of the Pope were revealed, were topics that agitated his pontificate.

Benedict XVI called the abuse a "heinous crime" and apologized to the victims.

Benedict XVI's funeral will take place on Thursday in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican at 09:30 local time.

Only the government and presidential delegations of Italy and Germany will officially take part in the ceremony.