Benedict becomes 1st pope in 600 years to resign

Capping a day of tearful farewells that included an extraordinary pledge of obedience to his successor, Benedict entered history as the first pope in 600 years to resign — leaving the Catholic Church in unprecedented limbo and ending a pontificate shaped by struggles to move beyond clerical sex abuse scandals and reawaken Christianity in an indifferent world.

On Benedict's last day, the mood was vastly different inside the Vatican than at Castel Gandolfo, the 17th-century papal retreat set in the hills south of Rome, where he will spend the first two months of his retirement.

At the seat of the popes, Benedict's staff bade the pontiff goodbye in scenes of dignified solemnity, with Swiss Guards in full regalia and prelates kneeling to kiss his papal ring one last time.

A livelier atmosphere reigned in the countryside, with well-wishers jamming the hilltop town's main square, shouting “Viva il Papa!” and waving the yellow and white flags of the Holy See.

Cheers went up as the 85-year-old Benedict stepped out onto the palace balcony and, arms outstretched, declared his papacy was nearing the end.

“I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this Earth,” he said. Then giving a final blessing, he declared: “Grazie e buona notte” — “Thank you and good night” in Italian.

It was a remarkable bookend to a papacy that began on April 19, 2005, with a similarly meek speech delivered from the loggia overlooking St. Peter's Square, where the newly elected Benedict said he was but a “simple humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”

Over his eight-year papacy, Benedict tried to set the church on a more traditional course, convinced that all the ills afflicting it — sexual abuse, dwindling numbers of priests and empty pews — were a result of a misreading of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

His successor is likely to follow in his footsteps, given that the vast majority of the 115 cardinals who will elect the next pope were appointed by Benedict himself and share his conservative bent.

Conclave Preparations to Begin

For the time being, the governance of the church shifts to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the camerlengo, or chamberlain, who along with the College of Cardinals will guide the church and make plans starting Monday for the conclave to elect the 266th leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

One of Bertone's first acts was to lock the papal apartment inside the Vatican. In another task steeped in symbolism, he will ensure that Benedict's papal ring and seal are destroyed.

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