Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday vowed “unconditional obedience” to his successor on his historic final day as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, when he will become the first pontiff to resign since the Middle Ages.
“Among you there is also the future pope to whom I promise my unconditional obedience and reverence,” the pope said as he bade farewell to cardinals in the Vatican’s ornate Clementine Hall.
“Let the Lord reveal the one he has chosen,” said the 85-year-old pope, wearing an ermine-lined red stole over his white cassock.
“We have experienced, with faith, beautiful moments of radiant light together, as well as times with a few clouds in the sky,” Benedict said, reprising a theme from his adieu to some 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday.
“Let us remain united, dear brothers,” he said, in the final moments of an eight-year pontificate often overshadowed by infighting at the Vatican and divisions between reformers and traditionalists in the Catholic Church.
The cardinals with their black cassocks and red sashes then took turns bidding farewell to the pontiff, kissing his gold papal signet ring according to time-honoured tradition.
Many of the 144 cardinals doffed their berettas in a sign of deference and offered a few parting words to the pope.
Just hours remained before Benedict will make history as only the second pope to resign of his own free will in the Church’s 2,000-year history.
At 1600 GMT he will board a helicopter and see the Vatican from the sky one last time as pope before he goes into retirement.
Initially he will live in the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome and within a couple of months he is expected to move into a former convent in the Vatican grounds.
A final tweet will be published on his Twitter account @pontifex before it is suspended until the new pope decides whether he too wants to be a microblogger.
A bell in Rome city hall on the Capitol — the Italian capital is the papacy’s diocese — will ring to mark the moment the pope leaves the city.
The German pope stunned the globe when he announced on February 11 his decision to step down, saying he no longer had the “strength of mind and body” required by a fast-changing world.
The news has captured massive media attention, with the Vatican saying Thursday that 3,641 journalists from 61 countries will cover the upcoming conclave — on top of the regular Vatican press corps.
After a brief greeting to the residents of Castel Gandolfo — effectively Benedict’s last remarks before he retreats out of the public eye — the pope will retire for prayer in a private chapel.
At 1900 GMT, his powers will formally expire.
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