'I'm just a pilgrim,' Benedict XVI says in public farewell
By Richard Offei-Addo Afeinyie,The News.
March 1, 2013
The faithful fill St. Peter's
Square as Pope Benedict XVI attends his last public audience on
Wednesday, February 27, in Vatican City. Benedict's decision to resign
earlier this month caught a lot of Vatican watchers, apparently even
some in his inner circle, off-guard.
Benedict XVI's final papal audience
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Benedict XVI's time as pope came to a
historic end Thursday, as he became the first pontiff in six centuries
to resign as leader of the world's Roman Catholics, who now number 1.2
billion.
Torchlit crowds stood
before the gates of the Castel Gandolfo residence, waiting to see the
Swiss Guards, the soldiers who traditionally protect the pope, salute
and close the doors on the stroke of 8 p.m.
The guards' departure
from the papal summer home brings Benedict's papacy to a formal end. The
protection of Benedict there falls now to Vatican police.
The process of transition to that new pope now begins. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is without a leader.
Pope: 'The Lord seemed to be sleeping'
Symbolizing that gulf at the top, all Benedict's tweets as
@Pontifex have been archived. Instead, the account's Twitter page reads only "Sede Vacante," or empty seat.
Earlier, his final words were given to some 10,000 people who had gathered at Castel Gandolfo to bid him an emotional farewell.
"I am no longer the pope
but I am still in the church. I'm just a pilgrim who is starting the
last part of his pilgrimage on this earth," he said.
He thanked them for their
friendship, on a day "different for me than the preceding ones" -- and
indeed almost unprecedented for the Roman Catholic Church.
"I would still -- with my
heart, with my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, and with all
my inner strength -- like to work for the common good and the good of
the church and of humanity," he said.
"I feel very supported by your kindness. Let us go forward with the Lord for the good of the church and the world. Thank you."
Smiling slightly, he made the sign of the cross to bless the crowds and disappeared into the building.
It is likely to be the last time he is seen in public.
Benedict, who will now
be known as "pontiff emeritus," will spend the next few weeks at the
peaceful, hilltop Castel Gandolfo residence before moving to a small monastery within the Vatican grounds.
The first pope to resign
in 598 years, his departure ushers in a period of great uncertainty for
the church as the cardinals work to elect the next pontiff.
Pomp and ceremony
Benedict earlier left Vatican City for the last time as pope amid pomp and ceremony.
An honor guard of Swiss
Guards lined up to bid him farewell as, looking frail and carrying a
cane, he left the papal apartment to applause from senior Vatican
officials and staff.
The sound of bells from
St. Peter's Basilica chimed across the city of Rome as the helicopter
carrying him to Castel Gandolfo looped overhead, passing above landmarks
like the Colosseum.
Although Benedict will eventually return to Vatican City to live out his days, he will never again set foot there as pope.
Seals will be placed on
the entrance to the pope's Vatican apartment, the Vatican said -- to be
removed only when the next pontiff enters.
His symbolic Fisherman's
Ring and papal seal will be "destroyed" by means of making scratch
marks so that they can no longer be used to seal documents, said Vatican
spokesman Federico Lombardi.
Benedict's final tweet, sent at 11 a.m. ET from his
@Pontifex
account, read: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always
experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your
lives."
The account will remain dormant until the next pope decides whether he wants to use it, the Vatican said.
'Unconditional obedience'
Pope Benedict's last day as pontiff
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Benedict entered his
final day as pontiff with an unusual act -- a pledge of "unconditional
obedience" and respect to whoever takes up the reins after his dramatic
resignation later.
His promise came in a
last meeting Thursday morning with the cardinals who will pick his
successor, almost certainly from within their own ranks.
"I will continue to
serve you in prayer, in particular in the coming days, so that you may
be touched by the Holy Spirit in the election of a new pope," he said.
His words appeared
designed to answer concerns that the presence of a former pontiff might
lead to confusion or competing loyalties once the new pope is installed.
Benedict told the
cardinals it was a "joy to walk with you" during his nearly eight
tumultuous years at the head of all Catholics worldwide.
Pope says farewell to Twitter account
Another Vatican
spokesman, the Rev. Thomas Roscia, said he believed 144 cardinals had
attended Benedict XVI's farewell to them as pope. That includes both
cardinal-electors, who are under the age of 80, and cardinals who are
not eligible to vote for the next pope.
Not all the 115 cardinals eligible to vote were present, Lombardi said.
Two cardinals are
suffering ill health, making their attendance uncertain, although
arrangements may be made to enable them to vote, Roscia said.
The Vatican has said it
wants to have the next pontiff in place in time for the week of services
leading up to Easter Sunday on March 31.
A series of meetings to
set the timetable for the conclave -- the closed-door assembly to elect a
new pope -- will begin early next week, said Lombardi. The cardinals
will receive the formal invitation to attend on Friday.
The meetings, known as
general congregations, bring together all the cardinals, electors and
non-electors, before the conclave begins. They are intended to be an
opportunity to reflect on the current state of the church.
Secret election
In their meeting
Thursday morning, the cardinals gave Benedict a standing ovation, and
then one by one each met Benedict to say a final few words.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo
of Texas said at a news conference held with fellow U.S. cardinals that
it had been "a very moving moment with Pope Benedict."
"There was a note of
sadness in saying farewell to this man who has been our spiritual father
for the last eight years," said Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston.
"At the same time it was very edifying to see how much people love him and respect him."
Cardinal Roger Mahony,
the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, tweeted after meeting Benedict
that he had asked Benedict to pray for the people of Los Angeles. "He
grasped my hand and said 'Yes'!!" Mahony said.
The current Catholic
archbishop in Los Angeles earlier this month disciplined Mahony for his
mishandling of "painful and brutal" allegations of sexual abuse by
priests. Mahony's decision to travel to Rome to take part in the
election of the new pope has been controversial because of that.
DiNardo and O'Malley said they would pray for guidance in choosing the new pope.
"I consider it one of
the most important activities that I will be engaged in as a priest and a
cardinal," said O'Malley, for whom the conclave will be his first.
"I think the discussions
that we will have in the congregations will be the most important
intellectual preparation that we have -- certainly the spiritual
preparation has already begun.
"Our people back home
and throughout the world are all praying that we will be guided to be
able to choose the very best person to lead us."
Twitter shutdown
Cardinals are forbidden
to communicate with the outside world -- now including by Twitter --
during the conclave, held within the Sistine Chapel. There is no
Internet access inside Santa Marta, where the cardinals will stay during
the conclave, Lombardi said.
Cardinal Gianfranco
Ravasi of Italy, tipped as a possible future pope, tweeted Thursday
morning that he would be away for a few days.
A number of other
cardinals, including Ghanaian Peter Turkson, also considered a
frontrunner, and New York's Timothy Dolan are also present on Twitter.
Benedict, who will not
be involved in the election, will not get any advance notice of who his
successor will be, Roscia said. The pope emeritus will find out who has
been elected at the same time as the rest of the world.
Cardinal Javier Lozano
Barragan of Mexico, who turned 80 last month and so is not a
cardinal-elector, would not be drawn to comment Wednesday on who the
next pope might be.
As to whether the
cardinals are talking to each other about it now, he told CNN: "There
are contacts, of course there are contacts. But what people talk about,
who knows?
"There is a saying in Rome: He who enters the conclave as a possible pope comes out a cardinal."
Mired in scandal
Benedict's resignation opens up the prospect of unforeseen opportunities and challenges for the Roman Catholic Church.
Many are wondering
whether a new pontiff will choose to lead the church in a different
direction -- and can lift it out of the mire of scandal that has bogged
down this pope's time in office.
Even as Benedict's final
week began, Vatican officials were trying to swat down unsavory claims
by Italian publications of an episode involving gay priests, male
prostitutes and blackmail. Then the news broke that Benedict had moved
up the resignation of a Scottish archbishop linked over the weekend by a
British newspaper to inappropriate relationships with priests.
Last year, leaks of
secret documents from the pope's private apartment -- which revealed
claims of corruption within the Vatican -- prompted a high-profile trial
of his butler and a behind-doors investigation by three cardinals.
Their report, its contents known so far only to Benedict, will be handed to his successor to deal with, the Vatican said.
Vatican magistrates may
have authorized the tapping of two or three telephone lines during the
cardinals' inquiry into the leaks, Lombardi acknowledged Thursday,
responding to a report in the Italian weekly magazine Panorama that
claimed a large-scale surveillance operation had been run.
Lombardi denied there
had been "a massive" operation on the scale reported by the magazine,
saying there is "no foundation" for the article. Roscia said that if
there was any wiretapping or surveillance, "it's a very small process."
Both spokesmen denied
that the operation had been ordered by the three cardinals, saying that
if it had happened, it was ordered by magistrates.
At the same time, the church faces continued anger about what many see as its failure to deal with child sex abuse by priests.
So, when Benedict
announced on February 11 that he would step down, there was inevitable
speculation that his move was in some way linked to the brewing
scandals.
Dolan, the most senior
Catholic cleric in the United States, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour
that there was an urgent need for a recovery and renewal in the church
The new pope won't seek to alter the teachings of the church, but could change the way they are presented, Dolan said.
'The Lord seemed to sleep'
The danger for the
Vatican is that the scandals risk overshadowing what others see as
Benedict's real legacy to the church: his teaching and writings,
including three papal encyclicals.
Proof of the Vatican's
irritation came with a stinging statement Saturday complaining of
"unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories," even
suggesting the media is trying to influence the election of the next
pope.
The constant buffeting
by scandal will doubtless also have taken a toll on an 85-year-old man
whose interests lie in scholarly study and prayer rather than damage
control.
Benedict suggested as
much at his final general audience Wednesday, when in front of cheering
crowds in St. Peter's Square he spoke of steering the church through
sometimes choppy waters.
There had been "many days of sunshine," he said, but also "times when the water was rough ... and the Lord seemed to sleep."
Benedict also called for a renewal of faith, and for the prayers of Catholics around the world both for him and his successor.
Italian iReporter Giovanni Francia
was in St. Peter's Square to witness the scene. "There was a good
atmosphere, (but) full of the sense we have lost a sort of
'grandfather,'" he said. "Now we are a little more alone."
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