The Vatican on Wednesday produced a surreal moment in which a living pope spoke to some worshipers in one part of the small city-state, while others paid respects to a dead former pontiff a few miles away.
Pope Francis holds his general audiences in a large modern hall, a regular event for Wednesdays.
“I would like us to join those here beside us in paying our respects to Benedict XVI,” Francis told several thousand people at the start of his audience.
Francis, 86, who will preside over Benedict’s funeral on Thursday, called his predecessor “a great master of education”.
Benedict, a towering theologian and hero to conservative Catholics, uncomfortable with Francis’ more progressive papacy, became the first pope in 600 years to resign rather than rule for life in 2013.