Pope Benedict XVI leaves after celebrating his last general audience in St. Peter's Square. Benedict recalled great joy but also "rough waters" and thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire. Source: AP
POPE Benedict XVI basked in an emotional sendoff at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.
He also thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire.
Tens of thousands of people toting banners saying "Grazie!" - "Thank you" - jammed the piazza in Rome to bid Benedict farewell and join the appointment he has kept each week for eight years to teach the world about the Catholic faith.
Benedict clearly enjoyed the crowds, taking a long victory lap around the square in an open-sided car and stopping to kiss and bless half a dozen children handed to him by his secretary.
Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd during his last weekly public audience before stepping down tomorrow. He is the first Pope to retire since 1415.
Rather, he made his final public appearance in St. Peter's a personal one, explaining once again why he was becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign and urging the faithful to pray for his successor.
"To love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself," Benedict said to thundering applause.
Benedict basked in an emotional sendoff from believers at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.
He recalled that when he was elected pope on April 19, 2005, he questioned if God truly wanted it.
"'It's a great burden that you've placed on my shoulders,'" he recalled telling God.
During eight years, he said "I have had moments of joy and light, but also moments that haven't been easy ... moments of turbulent seas and rough winds."
Pope Benedict XVI is driven through the crowd in his pope-mobile as he arrives to celebrate his last general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
But he said he never felt alone and thanked his cardinals and colleagues for their guidance and for "understanding and respecting this important decision."
Under a bright sun and blue skies, the square was overflowing with pilgrims and curiosity-seekers. Those who couldn't get in picked spots along the main boulevard leading to the square to watch the event on giant TV screens.
Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.
A man cries during Pope Benedict XVI's last general audience.
"It's difficult - the emotion is so big," said Jan Marie, a 53-year-old Roman in his first years as a seminarian. "We came to support the pope's decision."
With chants of "Benedetto!" erupting every so often, the mood was far more buoyant than during the pope's final Sunday blessing. It recalled the jubilant turnouts that often accompanied him at World Youth Days and events involving his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
Benedict has said he decided to retire after realising that, at 85, he simply didn't have the "strength of mind or body" to carry on. He will meet Thursday morning with cardinals for a final time, then fly by helicopter to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.
A nun welcomes Benedict to his last general audience before retiring tomorrow. Fifty thousand people requested tickets but as many as 100,000 were expected to attend.
There, at 8pm, the doors of the palazzo will close and the Swiss Guards in attendance will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church over - for now.
Many of the cardinals who will choose Benedict's successor were in St. Peter's Square for his final audience. Those included retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, the object of a grass-roots campaign in the US to persuade him to recuse himself for having covered up for sexually abusive priests. Cardinal Mahony has said he will be among the 115 cardinals voting on who the next pope should be.
Vatican officials say cardinals will begin meeting Monday to decide when to set the date for the conclave to elect the next pope.
But the rank-and-file faithful in the crowd weren't so concerned with the future; they wanted to savour the final moments with the pope they have known for eight years.
"I came to thank him for the testimony that he has given the church," said Maria Cristina Chiarini, a 52-year-old homemaker who traveled by train early Wednesday from Lugo in central Italy with some 60 members of her parish.
"There's nostalgia, human nostalgia, but also comfort, because as a Christian we have hope. The Lord won't leave us without a guide."
Benedict thanked his cardinals, colleagues and ordinary faithful for their support and for respecting his decision to become the first pope in 600 years to resign. He said that "to love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself".
He was driven around the square in an open-sided vehicle, surrounded by bodyguards. At one point he stopped to kiss a baby handed up to him by his secretary.
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