VATICAN CITY Pope Benedict XVI basked in an emotional sendoff Wednesday 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.
In keeping with the historic moment, Benedict changed course and didn't produce his typical professorial Wednesday catechism lesson. 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.
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."
But he said he never felt alone and thanked his cardinals and colleagues for their guidance and for "understanding and respecting this important decision."
CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reported that the Pope said he was "fully aware of the seriousness and novelty" of his decision to resign, and so too seemed the cardinals in attendance -- many of whom will soon be tasked with choosing his successor.
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. Ciro Benedettini, of the Vatican press office, told CBS News that about 150,000 had filled the square.
Many Catholic Americans made the trip to be at St. Peter's on Wednesday, to bid farewell. They were among the masses as Benedict's Popemobile slowly wound through the crowd on its way to the altar.
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 realizing 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. He is expected to give brief remarks upon his arrival to the faithful gathered at the castle to greet him.
There, at 8 p.m., 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.
As Pizzey has reported, Benedict has seemed increasingly at ease with his transition into retirement, but he will leave in his wake a Vatican beset by scandal. His successor will have to figure out how to deal with deeply-rooted management problems at the top of the Church, infighting between various factions in its governing body, and the lingering effects of the child sex abuse scandal.
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 U.S. to persuade him to recuse himself for having covered up for sexually abusive priests. Mahony has said he will be among the 115 cardinals voting on who the next pope should be.
Faced with questions about overcoming the scandal and improving the church's image, U.S. Cardinal James Stafford told CBS News, "We build the image by accepting the reality that we're living in, and not being angry, and not being defensive."
How the scandals may affect the choice of a new pope will never be known, notes Pizzey. The penalty for anyone involved in the conclave who breaks the oath of secrecy, including technicians and even housekeepers, used to be decided by the new pope. But in one of his final acts, Benedict changed the penalty to excommunication.
Delia Gallagher, senior editor of Inside the Vatican magazine and a CBS News consultant, told "CBS This Morning" there is a "renewed sense of excitement at the Vatican" as the 115 voting cardinals prepare to select the next pope.
"We've had eight years of a rather difficult pontificate," Gallagher said, "The cardinals are almost looking forward to the opportunity to set a new direction, within the limits, of course, of what's available in the college of cardinals, who have all been nominated by Pope Benedict or by his predecessor Pope John Paul II.
"I do think there's that's sense of a new start, a fresh start for the church," Gallagher added.
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 Wednesday weren't so concerned with the future; they wanted to savor 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."
Let pray that God's Spirit will preside over the election of the next Bishop of Rome, who the Roman Catholic Church gives the title "Pope".
Let's remember that the Church of Rome is ONLY a portion of the Body of Christ--Christendom. First of all the gathered Bishops should confess, repent, and make amends of all the sexual sins committed against the little lambs that belong to Christ's Holy Flock that were victimized and abused by evil/wicked/perverted priests--sheep in wolve's clothing. Second, they should begin the Reformation process and listen to the suggestions that Dr. Martin Luther to renew the dogmas and practices of their church that are indeed anti-Scriptural.
Hello everyone. I am proudly Catholic and having read the comments above I feel the need to reply. Not to retaliate in a way that would give merit to the bitter, distasteful words used, but rather, to share that I cannot phathom my life without my catholic identity. You see, contrary to popular belief, it takes far more courage stand up for and believe than it does to defy and be hateful. I resent the notion that we as catholics are blind to the goings on in our midst. I can't answer for all catholics but in my opinion all of you are yet to see a true product of the catholic church, face to face.
I shudder the thought of a society that encourages the gross intolerance and outright disrespect that you have shown. So I will pray to God for you all to have the strength to look beyond whatever it is you feel represents the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church; that you may find peace that only comes from a forgiving heart. A forgiving heart is, by the way, the greatest lesson my catolic faith has taught and instilled me. Take care to reflect on what I have said and by God's grace I pray you find reason and cause to change your hurtful comments into something fruitful, something of substance.
Very well said and thank you for adding depth and substance to what is for the most part a mud slinging match on this site.
Our Catholic faith is indeed our most profound identity because it is in the Church that we find Christ on a daily, even a moment-to-moment basis. We find him in the teachings of the Church. We find him in the vast charitable work of the Church among the poor, the starving and the disadvantaged.
But most profoundly we find him present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.
I truly pity those outside of the Church who persistently and willfully resist Christ's desire to unite himself to them. Their emptiness can be seen here on this site in the despicable things they say about Christ and his Church.
Those things do not hurt us because we are in Christ. But at the same time every foul word they speak about the Body of Christ only drives them deeper and deeper into a bottomless darkness without end.
God bless you for your faith and for your willingness to profess it boldly.
It is my sincere hope and prayer that as they elected a new Bishop of Rome, that the College of Cardinals will sincerely begin a movement of Renewal/Reformation with their faith tradition as a portion of the Body of Christ in our world.
I am sure the rest of the Body of Christ-Christendom will be joined together in prayer for the Holy Spirit to begin the reformation process with the Roman Catholic Church and for a
truly Christ-like Bishop of Rome--their Pope to be elected.
TMN, mrnickmani, roma1213 and all of you Catholics out there, I am asking all of the faithful Catholics I know to say a prayer tomorrow at 8 PM Rome time (you can figure out what time that is for you locally) for the Holy Father as he surrenders the See of Peter and heads into the final chapter of his life.
The Church will then enter into a sede vacante period as we await the decision of the College of Cardinals concerning when the conclave will be held and ultimately as they elect a new pope to be the next Vicar of Christ, Successor to Peter and Servant of the Servants of God.
God bless Benedict who is no doubt a future Doctor of the Church and saint. I know of no one who has worked harder for Christ and the One True faith than Benedict and he richly deserves his rest.
God bless you all and God bless the Holy Catholic Church. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.
A few things: 1. Catholics do not worship and/or believe the Pope is God. That would be complete and utter blasphemy. IF you preached that, you would be excommunicated. The Pope is the successor of Peter, the rock on whom Christ Himself said He would build His Church. Check the Gospels. The Early Church, by the time of Clement, the 4th bishop of Rome (around 200 AD), already deferred to the bishop of Rome as the head of the Church, becaus both Peter and Paul went to Rome. Bishops are the successors of the Apostles-each and every bishop can trace an unbroken line of being made a bishop, by a bishop, from the Apostles. God granted the Apostles the power, the duty, and the right to govern His Church, a duty they passed to all bishops.
2. So, the Pope is the rightful head of the Church. He is our earthly Shepherd and protects Sacred Scripture and teaching from heresy. What kind of authority does any Protestant minister have to teach the Truth of Christ? A 4yr degree? I'm not well informed on this, it may be a longer or shorter period, depending on the denomination. The Pope and the Church have been teaching the same thing for the past 2000 years, since the time of the Apostles. It's all carried down. I mean no disrespect to Protestant ministers, but I think I'm gonig to trust the people who have been doing this for 2,000 years, not the denominatinos that broke off a few hundred years back.
3. The Church is working to prevent further pedophilia problems-priests undergo extensive psychological testing before being ordained. A friend of mine said it was quite the ordeal, but it's to protect the people. The Church is as well working to heal past offences and work out what will happen to these priests. There are definitely less priests that are pedophiles, by percentage, than there are in the general population and probably less than ministers of other denominations-but wait, there aren't statistics on pedophiliac ministers in other denominations because no noe cares if it isn't the Catholic Church. There is so much hatred for the Church-why?
I'll take questions if anyone has them, but please, leave ugly comments and crude language off of the internet. It's unseemly and only hurts your case. Hatred blurs all arguments and leaves logic and truth in the dust.
Until your church's official policy is to immediately turn over every allegation of sex abuse to law enforcement, your post is just more blardy-blar. Your church is trying to "work out what will happen to these priests"? How about you start by throwing them in prison instead of shuffling them off to their next victims?
You would think Parishioners would wake up to the true nature of the Catholic Church and leave it. The Hypocrisy within is full of Criminal activity against our children. However, the Sheep continue to do the same ole, refusing to see the real Catholic Church for what it is. When I speak about the Catholic Church,I am speaking of the clergy, not the parishioners
I was born, raised and educated Catholic right through high school. I could never fully grasp the concept of the pope's job. What I saw was a man living in opulence, while many of his "flock" barely survive. Jesus said the poor will always be with us, but that does not mean that the leader of the CC should dress like a king and wear Prada. I cannot believe how lavishly these "men of God" live. I also cannot fathom how anyone can support an organization that knowingly allowed priests to sexually abuse children. That just blows my mind. What you have is a bunch of old men who live, eat and sleep gold and riches when professing to emulate the life of Christ. Jesus did not wear Prada! And what would Jesus do if he found out one of his apostles was sexually abusing children? Something tells me He would have cast out the child abusers. I am no longer a practicing Catholic because I feel the CC does not represent the morals and values Christ wants us to follow. And wasn't there a movie called "The Devil Wears Prada"? Interesting.
Catholics think this guy is a god, what a croc. Give a Catholic an idol and they will worshipit. Did they miss that commandment? I have no respect for idol worshippers.
That commandment doesn't apply to Catholics because of the pope. He is their God, believe me. They seem to forget that he is just a man who wears Prada.
To CBSFRED, and to other Catholic Church/Vatican Supporters, Apologists, and those genuinely-faithful who are held in its grip.
The more we study, research, and apply logic and reason, the more we learn that ancient MEN living in times which were only somewhat more advanced than caveman thinking, laid the basis for religious beliefs. Ex: During thunder or lightning, they thought that they were being punished for wronging the Gods, so in their minds, they had to formulate some pleasing-to-the-Gods system of behavior. Much of their reasoning during those ANCIENT times came from fear, misconceptions, etc.
Often their systems and codes of behavior - the forerunners or Codified Religion - resulted from dreams, nightmares, and "revelations" , which many of us are able to imagine, as being warped, distorted, exaggerated, and/or delusional. Hence, applying the kind of thinking, formulating and reasoning during such times of limited knowledge(lacking books, universities, and other vital sources), they arrived at "the God told me so" justification, reaching a state of "divine, or divinely-inspired" fantasy, which they promptly applied and pushed onto the common, uneducated, young and poor people, whose mind-voids were ripe for explanations of their existence and purpose.
Perhaps, the "ancient men of the cloth" meant well by their explanations and ways to please their Gods, but those Codes inevitably became religion, religious thinking/reasoning, and IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSET.
Whichever versions of religion were imposed onto the masses - during those ANCIENT TIMES - were transferred by pressure, indoctrination and force, generation after generation, in its misconceived, highly-subjective, inaccurate, and delusional form.
There must be better ways to understand and to relate to one another, than murdering and dying for what some ANCIENT MEN conjured up within their heads and passed on.
It is those with IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSETS who are the most dangerous, and who cause the most conflict to ALL who are of varying or of different beliefs. It appears that the Orthodox versions within The Three Abrahamic Religions, are the greatest threat to mankind and to this planet's well-being.
IS GOD MORE LIKE A KIND, UNDERSTANDING, LOVING WOMAN, OR A TOUGH, INFLEXIBLE, MACHO MAN?
We better find a way to temper and eliminate such IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSETS, and pronto.
If God is telling us anything, She is telling us just that!
I am glad you wrote this.
The anthropolgy is right in that people have always sought those answers; to explain the meaning of it all.
Plato, Aritstotle and other deists realized there must be something. Without going into too much history, mankind reaches a point where the God we seek actually responds: hence the birth of what believers call Divine Revelation.
Now as far as the supreme being goes, sure God does not need to reproduce hence the male\female idea does not/may not apply.
For Mankind the struggle and repeated failures to live in a Holy way resulted in tragic history repeating itself. So, It was a gift that God would incarnate(as a man) to quite literally show us how to live!
Now, if only more people lived this way!!!
I believe that even non believers can agree that the 'man' Jesus had some good advice, not only that, He walked the walk!
Treating people better than they deserve, forgiving for nothing more that the sake of forgiving!
Even to lie down one's life for ones friends; there is not greater love!!! If only men believed.
"It seemed like the Lord was sleeping." Is this guy for real saying that..sounds like a typical sales weasel placing the chorchs problems on the Lord.. give it a rest pal you & the cardinals need to srep and take the blame for the years of pedifile behavior by the priests!
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Let's remember that the Church of Rome is ONLY a portion of the Body of Christ--Christendom.
First of all the gathered Bishops should confess, repent, and make amends of all the sexual sins committed against the little lambs that belong to Christ's Holy Flock that were victimized and abused by evil/wicked/perverted priests--sheep in wolve's clothing.
Second, they should begin the Reformation process and listen to the suggestions that Dr. Martin Luther to renew the dogmas and practices of their church that are indeed anti-Scriptural.
I am proudly Catholic and having read the comments above I feel the need to reply. Not to retaliate in a way that would give merit to the bitter, distasteful words used, but rather, to share that I cannot phathom my life without my catholic identity.
You see, contrary to popular belief, it takes far more courage stand up for and believe than it does to defy and be hateful. I resent the notion that we as catholics are blind to the goings on in our midst. I can't answer for all catholics but in my opinion all of you are yet to see a true product of the catholic church, face to face.
I shudder the thought of a society that encourages the gross intolerance and outright disrespect that you have shown. So I will pray to God for you all to have the strength to look beyond whatever it is you feel represents the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church; that you may find peace that only comes from a forgiving heart.
A forgiving heart is, by the way, the greatest lesson my catolic faith has taught and instilled me. Take care to reflect on what I have said and by God's grace I pray you find reason and cause to change your hurtful comments into something fruitful, something of substance.
Our Catholic faith is indeed our most profound identity because it is in the Church that we find Christ on a daily, even a moment-to-moment basis. We find him in the teachings of the Church. We find him in the vast charitable work of the Church among the poor, the starving and the disadvantaged.
But most profoundly we find him present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.
I truly pity those outside of the Church who persistently and willfully resist Christ's desire to unite himself to them. Their emptiness can be seen here on this site in the despicable things they say about Christ and his Church.
Those things do not hurt us because we are in Christ. But at the same time every foul word they speak about the Body of Christ only drives them deeper and deeper into a bottomless darkness without end.
God bless you for your faith and for your willingness to profess it boldly.
I am sure the rest of the Body of Christ-Christendom will be joined together in prayer for the Holy Spirit to begin the reformation process with the Roman Catholic Church and for a
truly Christ-like Bishop of Rome--their Pope to be elected.
I am asking all of the faithful Catholics I know to say a prayer tomorrow at 8 PM Rome time (you can figure out what time that is for you locally) for the Holy Father as he surrenders the See of Peter and heads into the final chapter of his life.
The Church will then enter into a sede vacante period as we await the decision of the College of Cardinals concerning when the conclave will be held and ultimately as they elect a new pope to be the next Vicar of Christ, Successor to Peter and Servant of the Servants of God.
God bless Benedict who is no doubt a future Doctor of the Church and saint. I know of no one who has worked harder for Christ and the One True faith than Benedict and he richly deserves his rest.
God bless you all and God bless the Holy Catholic Church.
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.
A few things:
1. Catholics do not worship and/or believe the Pope is God. That would be complete and utter blasphemy. IF you preached that, you would be excommunicated. The Pope is the successor of Peter, the rock on whom Christ Himself said He would build His Church. Check the Gospels. The Early Church, by the time of Clement, the 4th bishop of Rome (around 200 AD), already deferred to the bishop of Rome as the head of the Church, becaus both Peter and Paul went to Rome. Bishops are the successors of the Apostles-each and every bishop can trace an unbroken line of being made a bishop, by a bishop, from the Apostles. God granted the Apostles the power, the duty, and the right to govern His Church, a duty they passed to all bishops.
2. So, the Pope is the rightful head of the Church. He is our earthly Shepherd and protects Sacred Scripture and teaching from heresy. What kind of authority does any Protestant minister have to teach the Truth of Christ? A 4yr degree? I'm not well informed on this, it may be a longer or shorter period, depending on the denomination. The Pope and the Church have been teaching the same thing for the past 2000 years, since the time of the Apostles. It's all carried down. I mean no disrespect to Protestant ministers, but I think I'm gonig to trust the people who have been doing this for 2,000 years, not the denominatinos that broke off a few hundred years back.
3. The Church is working to prevent further pedophilia problems-priests undergo extensive psychological testing before being ordained. A friend of mine said it was quite the ordeal, but it's to protect the people. The Church is as well working to heal past offences and work out what will happen to these priests. There are definitely less priests that are pedophiles, by percentage, than there are in the general population and probably less than ministers of other denominations-but wait, there aren't statistics on pedophiliac ministers in other denominations because no noe cares if it isn't the Catholic Church. There is so much hatred for the Church-why?
I'll take questions if anyone has them, but please, leave ugly comments and crude language off of the internet. It's unseemly and only hurts your case. Hatred blurs all arguments and leaves logic and truth in the dust.
-A young and faithful Catholic. Viva il Papa.
Oh well...They'll just find another "Sith" :P
The more we study, research, and apply logic and reason, the more we learn that ancient MEN living in times which were only somewhat more advanced than caveman thinking, laid the basis for religious beliefs.
Ex: During thunder or lightning, they thought that they were being punished for wronging the Gods, so in their minds, they had to formulate some pleasing-to-the-Gods system of behavior. Much of their reasoning during those ANCIENT times came from fear, misconceptions, etc.
Often their systems and codes of behavior - the forerunners or Codified Religion - resulted from dreams, nightmares, and "revelations" ,
which many of us are able to imagine, as being warped, distorted, exaggerated, and/or delusional. Hence, applying the kind of thinking, formulating and reasoning during such times of limited knowledge(lacking books, universities, and other vital sources), they arrived at
"the God told me so" justification,
reaching a state of
"divine, or divinely-inspired" fantasy,
which they promptly applied and pushed onto the common, uneducated, young and poor people, whose mind-voids were ripe for explanations of their existence and purpose.
Perhaps, the "ancient men of the cloth" meant well by their explanations and ways to please their Gods, but those Codes inevitably became religion, religious thinking/reasoning, and IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSET.
Whichever versions of religion were imposed onto the masses - during those ANCIENT TIMES - were transferred by pressure, indoctrination and force, generation after generation, in its misconceived, highly-subjective, inaccurate, and delusional form.
There must be better ways to understand and to relate to one another, than murdering and dying for what some ANCIENT MEN conjured up within their heads and passed on.
It is those with IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSETS who are the most dangerous, and who cause the most conflict to ALL who are of varying or of different beliefs. It appears that the Orthodox versions within The Three Abrahamic Religions, are the greatest threat to mankind and to this planet's well-being.
IS GOD MORE LIKE A KIND, UNDERSTANDING, LOVING WOMAN,
OR A TOUGH, INFLEXIBLE, MACHO MAN?
We better find a way to temper and eliminate such IMMUTABLE RELIGIOUS MINDSETS, and pronto.
If God is telling us anything, She is telling us just that!
The anthropolgy is right in that people have always sought those answers; to explain the meaning of it all.
Plato, Aritstotle and other deists realized there must be something. Without going into too much history, mankind reaches a point where the God we seek actually responds: hence the birth of what believers call Divine Revelation.
Now as far as the supreme being goes, sure God does not need to reproduce hence the male\female idea does not/may not apply.
For Mankind the struggle and repeated failures to live in a Holy way resulted in tragic history repeating itself. So, It was a gift that God would incarnate(as a man) to quite literally show us how to live!
Now, if only more people lived this way!!!
I believe that even non believers can agree that the 'man' Jesus had some good advice, not only that, He walked the walk!
Treating people better than they deserve, forgiving for nothing more that the sake of forgiving!
Even to lie down one's life for ones friends; there is not greater love!!! If only men believed.
Pax Tecuum...
"To CBSFRED, and to other Catholic Church/Vatican Supporters, Apologists, and those genuinely-faithful who are held in its grip."
And I hope and pray that the world may never rip me from its loving grip--this saving grasp--this protecting hand.
Is this guy for real saying that..sounds like a typical sales weasel placing the chorchs problems on the Lord.. give it a rest pal you & the cardinals need to srep and take the blame for the years of pedifile behavior by the priests!