hello and welcome to bbc news. it is good to have your company here. we begin with international news. pope francis has addressed worshippers in the vatican this morning. his address follows the death of his predecessor, benedict xvi. the former pope will be lying in state in st peter s basilica from monday to allow mourners to pay their respects until his funeral on thursday. pope francis celebrated mass for the solemnity of mary in the vatican, and afterwards he paid tribute to his predessecor in st peter s square. translation: the beginning . of the new year is for mary most holy, who we celebrate today as mother of god. at this time, let s invoke her intercession, especially for pope benedict xvi, who left this world yesterday morning. let us alljoin together with one heart and one soul in thanking god for the gift of this faithful servant of the gospel and of the church. we saw recently, on the television, his images and all of the activities and life of pope benedict. o
providing £7.5 billion in support for the sector over the next two years. new government figures show that more than 45,700, people arrived in the uk in 2022 by crossing the channel on small boats. the last crossings of the year happened on christmas day when 90 people made the journey from france in two boats. now on bbc news it s time for review 2022, and it s been a year where health news has again dominated the headlines. our correspondent, dominic hughes, looks back now on some of the biggest challenges faced this year by the uk s health services. was 2022 of the year we finally learned to live with covid? at the start of the year, driven by the highly infectious omicron variant, the virus still had us in its clutches. even as the new year s eve fireworks faded into the night, an estimated one in every 15 people in the uk would have tested positive for covid. it is because of the threat from omicron that i announced on wednesday that we would move to plan b in england.
hello and welcome to bbc world news. pope francis has addressed the thousands of people who gathered at st peter s square in the vatican, a day after the death of benedict xvi. the pope described his predecessor as a faithful servant of the gospel and the church. our religion editor aleem maqbool is at the vatican. we heard from pope francis a couple of times today, first at a mass for peace that was held in st peter s basilica behind me. he talked about entrusting our beloved pope emeritus benedict xvi, to the holy mother, to accompany him from this world to god. and then later, pope francis appeared at a balcony here at the vatican for what is his regular sunday lunchtime homily, where he started this week by asking people to join together, as you rightly say, to pray for the man he called a faithful servant to the gospel and to the church. extraordinary scenes, though. we saw thousands of people pour into the square from every side. vatican police told us a short while ago
and croatia begins the new year with a new currency, switching from the kuna to the euro. if you have just joined if you havejustjoined us, welcome to bbc news. pope francis has addressed the thousands of people who gathered at st peter s square in the vatican, a day after the death of benedict xvi. the pope described his predecessor as a faithful servant of the gospel and the church. our religion editor aleem maqbool is at the vatican. we heard from pope francis a couple of times today, first at a mass for peace that was held in st peter s basilica behind me. he talked about entrusting our beloved pope emeritus benedict xvi to the holy mother, to accompany him from this world to god. and then later, pope francis appeared at a balcony here at the vatican for what is his regular sunday lunchtime homily, where he started this week by asking people to join together, as you rightly say, to pray for the man he called a faithful servant to the gospel and to the church. extraordinar
celebrations have taken place around the world to herald the start of 2023. we start in brazil, where crowds of people are gathering in the capital, brasilia, ahead of the inauguration of luiz inacio lula da silva as president. the veteran left wing politician, known widely as lula, also led the country between 2003 and 2010, and defeated jair bolsonaro in 0ctober s poll. there is tight security for sunday s ceremony, amid fears that bolsonaro supporters may try to disrupt it. in the last few minutes, it s been reported a man has been arrested trying to enter the inauguration with explosives and a knife. we are monitoring that for you. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson is outside the inauguration venue in brasilia. around 300,000 people are expected to turn up to this inauguration. there s a concert that is being put on, it has already started. that concert will stop for the official ceremony to begin and will continue later in the night. but certainly, you know, hu