VATICAN CITY Pope Benedict XVI blessed the faithful from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square for the first time since announcing his resignation, cheered by an emotional crowd of tens of thousands of well-wishers from around the world.
Smiling broadly, Benedict raised his arms outstretched to the massive crowd in his second-to-last Angelus blessing before leaving the papacy. A huge banner in the square read: "We love you."
The Sunday noon appointment is one of the most cherished traditions of the Catholic Church, and this moment is one of Benedict's last opportunities to connect with the Catholic masses.
The pope's voice was strong and clear as he looked into hazy sunshine over the square packed with at least 50,000 pilgrims, whom he addressed in Italian, English, French, German, Polish and Spanish.
Benedict made no direct reference to his stunning decision to step down on Feb. 28. But in his comments to Spanish-speaking pilgrims he asked the faithful to `'continue praying for me and for the next pope." And he thanked the faithful for their "affection and spiritual closeness."
The crowd broke out into cheers and wild applause.
The pope gave particular thanks to the "beloved inhabitants of the city of Rome," a possible hint at the title he will take after retirement. The Vatican has suggested he may be called "emeritus bishop of Rome."
The traditional noon appointment normally attracts a few thousand pilgrims and tourists, but city officials prepared for a crush of people seeking to witness a moment of history.
"We wanted to wish him well," said Amy Champion, a tourist from Wales. "It takes a lot of guts to take the job and even more guts ... to quit."
From Sunday evening, the pope will be out of the public eye for an entire week: A meditation service at the Vatican marks the beginning of the traditional Lenten period of reflection and prayer.
Rome threw on extra buses and subway trains to help deal with the crowds, and offered free shuttle vans for the elderly and disabled.
While cardinals elect his successor next month in a secrecy-steeped conclave in the Sistine Chapel, the 85-year-old Benedict, the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, will be in retreat at the Holy See's summer estate in the hills southeast of Rome.
After several weeks, he is expected to move into a monastery being refurbished for him behind Vatican City's walls and lead a largely cloistered life.
Pope Benedict XVI told a gathering of Rome's parish priests last week that he will be "hidden to the world" after he steps down at the end of the month, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.
The Vatican hasn't announced the date of the start of the conclave, but said on Saturday that it might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date it can be launched under current rules. Benedict would have to sign off on any earlier date, an act that would be one of the last of his nearly eight-year papacy.
Meanwhile, the first cardinals started arriving in Rome to begin a period of intense politicking among the `'princes of the church" to decide who are the leading candidates to be the next pope. Guinea-born Archbishop Robert Sarah, a cardinal who leads the Vatican's charity office, told reporters when he arrived Sunday at Rome's airport that the churchmen should select their new leader with `'serenity and trust."
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Angelus Blessing from the window of his private studio overlooking St. Peter's Square on February 17, 2013, in Vatican City, Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI's decision to step down during this Holy Season of Lent 2013 was one of the most self-less decision ever made in the Catholic Church. It shatters all preconceptions that the Pope was closer to an all powerful eternal entity and instead calls Catholics to renew their Faith and to believe more in their own selves.
Weirdly I find it consoling that the Church is being maligned by most of the commenters here. They are in luck, because the Church is always charitable to them. I just want to appeal, though, to the rationality of those who attack the Church: if they can't believe in the principles of one legitimate group such as the Catholic Church, then at least they should respect it. After all, this Church of innumerable saints and philanthropists -- despite having some erring members -- has given a lot of good to the world throughout history.
Thank you so much for your kind and true words about the Church. Your post was a breath of fresh air.
You might want to read Peter Seewald's book, "Light of the World" which is his book-length interview with Pope Benedict in which the pope answers all of the questions that any of us might have for him.
It's nice that he can retire and since the Catholic Church is the largest Corporation in the World, his retirement package will make the retired CEO's from Wall St. feel like little street waifs.
If I may comment here, the pope has no retirement package at all. When he was Cardinal Ratzinger he was paid a small salary but when he became pope he gave that up and received no salary at all.
This may sound somewhat disingenuous considering the fact that popes are taken care of during their lifetimes in that they live in the papal apartment in the Vatican with room and board, so to speak.
However, there really is no package, no golden parachute, no severance package at all. Cardinal Ratzinger will live for the rest of his life in the Mater Ecclesia monastery which is on the grounds of the Vatican. Ratzinger is a very simple man and will primarily concern himself with prayer and study, something he wanted to do when Pope John Paul II died, but was unable to because of his election to the papacy.
The last I heard, Cardinals receive a salary of 1200 Euros per month which is about $1600 per month.
Acting on homosexual tendencies among priests has long been a problem. It was covered up in the 1960s and 70s a lot. Did they become priests for the access? I don't think so, but then you'd have to consider the boyscout policy. By the way, I never heard about girls being sexually approached by nuns back then.
I can suggest a couple of books that might help you to better understand the clerical abuse scandal in the Catholic Church that began in the 1960's and 70's, peaked in the 1980's and declined from that point onward.
The books are "Goodbye Good Men" by Michael Rose and "Pedophiles and Priests" by Phillip Jenkins.
The Jenkins book is particularly good and, contrary to what is suggested in the title, Jenkins points out that the problem that developed in the Catholic priesthood during those decades was not pedophilia by ephebophilia, a term you never hear in the press.
Ephebophilia refers to the desire to have sexual relations with pubescent but legally underage children, primarily boys. It is a homosexual problem and indeed some 90% of the sexual abuse cases in the Church were related to homosexual priests who abused sexually mature but underage boys. The rest involved sexual contact with girls.
In the gay community, men like this have long been called "chicken hawks" and most gay men have at least one or two stories of this type from their childhood relating to having sex with chicken hawks.
Google NAMBLA - the North American Man-Boy Love Association - and you will quickly understand the very real problem of this kind of perversion in our country.
Back in 1965, my husband left home to become the property of a Jesuit monastery in New York in the hopes of becoming a priest. He entered when he was 14. He left at age 16, begging to come back home and totally screwed up because of the sexual conduct of the Jesuit priesthood. These adolescent boys were victimized by older men at a time in their lives when they were trying to develop a healthy sexual attitude with the opposite sex. It's pathetic what has gone on with the Catholic Church.
Do we have to suffer the pangs of religiosity any longer. Why don't we just shirk of the robe, the same way this guy did and give it up. It's a bad habit (no pun intended, really, it just came out that way), and even if tourism in Rome depends on it, then turn it in to a theme park. We shouldn't be catering to the hallucinogenic part of our society.
Frmr. sergeant, I dislike clergymen and have not been involved in organized churches (not even The Corncob Apocalypse Church) for 40-45 years, but you are an offense to the thosands of Catholics who have served as marines. The least you can do is remove the USMC from your screen name. Once again, I urge you to get psychological help.
You are quite wrong, Rajah88, I can condemn both pedophilia and anti-Catholic bias, which has long been a staple of those like yourself who hate religion in general and like the frmr. sergeant and Nipper who are filled with bigotry of the "Know-Nothing" (the political movement) variety longstanding in parts of the US.
Benedict XVI won't be missed. His comments against gay marriage were a disgrace to human equality and tolerance. His half-hearted against child sex offences by priests is criminal. He did nothing to promote gender equality. See http://rationalexaminer.com for an overview of the Pope's hypocrisy. For some humour on the situation, read http://sorrysods.com for his tweet on the real reasons for stepping down - "no one was listening to me.".
Suggestion for the Catholic Church; let priests marry (women); not each other. There is not one word in the Bible that "requires or demands" that leaders of the church never marry. The main reason to keep priests unmarried has always been about power, control, and of course money. There is also no Mary worship in the bible either; but that's another Catholic thing.
Popes are most loved for their support of Holy sex, it involve the sperm being shared by only married couples. No Pope hated the use of the condom more than Benedict, his wisdom will be missed by those that love to ride bareback.
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Weirdly I find it consoling that the Church is being maligned by most of the commenters here. They are in luck, because the Church is always charitable to them. I just want to appeal, though, to the rationality of those who attack the Church: if they can't believe in the principles of one legitimate group such as the Catholic Church, then at least they should respect it. After all, this Church of innumerable saints and philanthropists -- despite having some erring members -- has given a lot of good to the world throughout history.
You might want to read Peter Seewald's book, "Light of the World" which is his book-length interview with Pope Benedict in which the pope answers all of the questions that any of us might have for him.
God bless.
This may sound somewhat disingenuous considering the fact that popes are taken care of during their lifetimes in that they live in the papal apartment in the Vatican with room and board, so to speak.
However, there really is no package, no golden parachute, no severance package at all. Cardinal Ratzinger will live for the rest of his life in the Mater Ecclesia monastery which is on the grounds of the Vatican.
Ratzinger is a very simple man and will primarily concern himself with prayer and study, something he wanted to do when Pope John Paul II died, but was unable to because of his election to the papacy.
The last I heard, Cardinals receive a salary of 1200 Euros per month which is about $1600 per month.
Did they become priests for the access? I don't think so, but then you'd have to consider the boyscout policy.
By the way, I never heard about girls being sexually approached by nuns back then.
The books are "Goodbye Good Men" by Michael Rose and "Pedophiles and Priests" by Phillip Jenkins.
The Jenkins book is particularly good and, contrary to what is suggested in the title, Jenkins points out that the problem that developed in the Catholic priesthood during those decades was not pedophilia by ephebophilia, a term you never hear in the press.
Ephebophilia refers to the desire to have sexual relations with pubescent but legally underage children, primarily boys. It is a homosexual problem and indeed some 90% of the sexual abuse cases in the Church were related to homosexual priests who abused sexually mature but underage boys. The rest involved sexual contact with girls.
In the gay community, men like this have long been called "chicken hawks" and most gay men have at least one or two stories of this type from their childhood relating to having sex with chicken hawks.
Google NAMBLA - the North American Man-Boy Love Association - and you will quickly understand the very real problem of this kind of perversion in our country.
I hope this helps.