Vatican City was bedecked in half-staff flags on Thursday as #Pope Benedict was laid to rest before thousands.

Current Pope Francis presided over his predecessor’s funeral for the first time in 120 years.

Benedict was the first Pope to resign in over 600 years, spending his final years in contemplative retirement.

Earlier this week, Benedict’s body was sent to St Peter’s Basilica on Monday to lay in state before the altar.

The former Pope had requested a humble funeral (in comparison to some previous popes) but still received a fairly standard end-of-life send-off.

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, Benedict’s personal secretary, shared his former boss’s final words, telling crowds, “With just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner, [Benedict] said in Italian, ‘Lord, I love you!’ I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterward.”

Benedict’s earthly remains were interred in the Vatican grottos, alongside around 150 of his predecessors, underneath St Peter’s.