Thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects to former Pope Benedict XVI when his lying in state begins at the Vatican on Monday.
The former pontiff died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95.
He led the Catholic Church for eight years before, in 2013, becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign.
His remains will lie in state for three days.
Benedict's successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral in St Peter's Square on Thursday, before he is laid to rest in the tombs beneath St Peter's Basilica.
He died at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican gardens, which had been his home for the past decade.
The Vatican on Sunday released images of Benedict lying in state in the monastery chapel, dressed in red papal mourning robes and with a gold-edged mitre.
He shocked the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced in Latin that he was resigning, telling cardinals he was too old and frail to lead an institution with more than 1.3 billion members.
“There were moments of joy and light, but also moments that were not easy … There were moments … when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping,” Benedict told his last general audience, a gathering of more than 150,000 people.
His resignation created the extraordinary situation of having two “men in white” — Francis and Benedict — at the Vatican.
Benedict's funeral will also break new ground.
Papal deaths usually trigger the calling of a conclave of cardinals to elect a successor, but this time Francis remains in post, and will lead proceedings.
Pope Benedict XVI - in pictures
Benedict's funeral will be “solemn but simple”, the Vatican said.
It has yet to say who will be attending, beyond that it will include delegations from Italy and Benedict's native Germany.
The last papal funeral, of John Paul II in 2005, drew one million faithful and heads of state from around the world, although Benedict was a more divisive figure.
A brilliant theologian, he alienated many Catholics with his staunch defence of traditional values and as pope struggled to impose his authority on the church as it battled a string of crises, including over clerical sex abuse.
Benedict repeatedly apologised for the Church's failure to root out sexual abuse of children by clergy and he was the first pope to take serious action against abuse.
But in 2022, an independent report in Germany claimed that Benedict had failed to take action in four abuse cases when he was Archbishop of Munich, between 1977 and1982.
He acknowledged in an emotional personal letter that errors had occurred and asked for forgiveness. His lawyers argued that he was not directly to blame.
After the election of Pope Francis, Benedict moved to spend his final years in prayer, reading, playing the piano and receiving friends.
Although he said he would remain “hidden from the world”, Benedict sometimes caused controversy through his writings.
In an essay for a Church magazine in Germany in 2019, he blamed the crisis over the abuse of children by priests on the effect of the 1960s sexual revolution, what he called homosexual cliques in seminaries and a general collapse in morality.
Critics accused him of trying to shift the blame away from the Church hierarchy.
Pope Francis, an Argentine Jesuit who is most at home among his flock, paid tribute to Benedict in three New Year's events at the Vatican at the weekend, “thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church”.
Francis, 86, has raised the prospect that he might follow Benedict's example and step down if he became unable to carry out his duties.
In July, suffering knee problems that have forced him to rely on a wheelchair, he admitted he needed to slow down or think about stepping aside.
Last month, Francis revealed he had signed a resignation letter when he took office should poor health prevent him from carrying out his duties.
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Cases of coronavirus in the GCC as of March 15
Saudi Arabia – 103 infected, 0 dead, 1 recovered
UAE – 86 infected, 0 dead, 23 recovered
Bahrain – 210 infected, 0 dead, 44 recovered
Kuwait – 104 infected, 0 dead, 5 recovered
Qatar – 337 infected, 0 dead, 4 recovered
Oman – 19 infected, 0 dead, 9 recovered
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Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
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Manchester United 0
Manchester City 2
Bernardo Silva 54', Sane 66'
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EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
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Game Changer
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Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
