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Angeles. thank you for joining our special coverage of pope benedict's funeral. some 200,000 of the faithful have filed past the body of pop benedict as he was lying in state in st. peter's basilica. during general audience at the vatican wednesday come up pope francis prayed his predecessors acute and gentle thoughts. >> we begin our coverage with our chief religion correspondent , lauren greene, who was live in vatican city fo us. >> good morning. it is time to say goodbye to pope benedict. there is a fog here in st. peter's square appears so foggy that you cannot see that the dome of st. pe...

>> and christopher, just letting our viewers know that they were just looking at pictures of pope francis appearing in st. peter's square. he'll obviously be presiding over the funeral today. now, you make a very interesting point about how pope benedict xvi will be remembered. what do you feel like he conceptualized as his mission within the church in his time as squa cardinal, his time as pope sxfrks when he resigned? >> well, i think there are a couple of interesting pieces to your question and we have to take those in turn. i think that he was always more concerned with affairs within the ...

R which was a gigantic ceremony. much smaller affair happened there today. much more humble affair. much more subdued affair that happened today at st. peter's square. so definitely right along the lines of the wave that pope benedict xvi would have wanted to be remembered. the way pope benedict xvi conducted his own ceremony. most people who witnessed pope benedict, i had the pleasure and the honor really of coming very close to pope benedict in the early stages of his pontificate. i was on st. peter's square when he became the pope, when he first came out on the balcony beforehand having sai...

Like the catholic church. and of course as bianca put it in a location like st. peter's square. but that was certainly also the kind of person that pope benedict xvi was. he was a very humble person, someone that when you met him you would not realize that he was someone who wielded the kind of power that he did wield because he was definitely a very down to earth figure, max and bianca. >> i was just going to ask, fred, what the atmosphere is like in germany and whether they're all tuning in today. he was the german pope. >> reporter: yeah. definitely. and certainly if you look at the coverag...

[ singing in non-english ] >> you're watching the funeral of pope benedict xvi in st. peter's square. joining us again is cnn vatican correspondent delia gallagher, who is in the square. delia, this is a momentous occasion to watch. and i would imagine for catholics everywhere the historical consequence and poignancy of watching a current pope preside over the funeral of a former pope is really significant. >> reporter: yes. absolutely, bianca. and you know, we have to think about pope francis in this moment. he is the one who had this unique position as pope to have another pope behind him, a...