The Vatican on Wednesday served up a surreal moment in which a living pope spoke to some of the faithful in one part of the tiny city-state while others a short distance way were honoring a deceased former pontiff.
"I would like us to join with those here beside us who are paying their respects to Benedict XVI," Francis told several thousand people at the start of his audience, in which he is concluding a catechesis, or religious teaching.
At about the same time as Francis was speaking and only several dozen meters away, the great doors of St. Peter's Basilica were being opened to the public for the third and last day of public viewing of Benedict's body. With him will be coins and medals minted during his eight years as pope and a sealed lead tube holding a deed written in Latin describing his pontificate - all customary for funerals of popes.
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