Account of Benedict’s papacy to be sealed in his coffin

A metal disc shows Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI alongside a painting of him and one of the last cassocks worn by him before his resignation in 2013, according to the director of the Progetto Arte Poli gallery where it is displayed, near the Vatican (Ben Curtis/AP)

A written account of the history-making papacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be placed alongside his body in his coffin for burial, the Vatican said as it revealed plans for the first funeral of a pontiff to resign in six centuries.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people filed through St Peter’s Basilica to view his body as it lay in state for a second day.