New Zealand Catholics gather ahead of Pope Francis' funeral

Catholics in New Zealand have been gathering in advance of Pope Francis' funeral in Rome.

St Anne's Catholic Church in Wellington dedicated its weekly Saturday mass to the late Pontiff.

RNZ will be liveblogging the funeral from 530pm Saturday evening.

Parish priest Father Doug Shepherd told the congregation that Francis had been "an extraordinary and quite remarkable" pope.

"He was a very humble pastor and his focus was always on people and we remember that," he said.

Among those attending were Mike and Irene, who said they'd be watching a livestream of the funeral.

"He was lovely," said Irene. "He was just very humble and humility speaks a lot."

Parishioner Joseph said he was there to remember "the good things he did, for Catholics and for Christians, he made good changes".

"We'll just have to see what happens, with the new pope," he said.

Another parishioner, Meia, said it was a difficult time for Catholics who had lost their leader, but it was also a new beginning.

"I look forward to whoever takes his place. The elections in the Catholic Church are different to take those outside. It's not about politicking it's about God."

Meanwhile, parish chairperson Melania Lui said she met Francis in Brazil at a World Youth Day event more than a decade ago.

"It was him and [former Pope] Benedict so I was lucky to be a part of that," Lui said.

"It was funny too because there was so much security for him but he didn't want to be a part of that, and he took his time out, to stop the car, a simple hatchback, to say hi to the people linig the streets.

"I knew straight away then, he's for the people and he doesn't want those... protocols that most world leaders adhere to. But he was, 'no the people are here for me, so I want to be there'.

"His death was very sad as he made a lot of changes in the world, he was a pope of the people."

Lui said his request for a more simple funeral and burial were a reflection of his papacy, and his life.

"His focus was the message of Christ, and that is to love one another, to embrace each other and he did that."

She said the next pope would also need to have humility.

"To me Francis was courageous and brave, and the next pope will need to carry on that work, to face issues that are not addressed when they should be. Like poverty and war. These are things that really matter and they help people live more freely."