February 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY — In his first public appearance since the stunning announcement of his resignation two days ago, Pope Benedict XVIsaid on Wednesday that he had made his decision “in full liberty for the good of the church” because he no longer had the strength needed to carry out the duties of the papacy. 

Clad in simple white robes and a skullcap at a general audience in theVatican, the pope spoke as Christians began Lent, the 40-day period of fasting and prayer preceding Easter. Later he celebrated his last Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, an event described by his aides as likely to be his final major Mass in the huge edifice before his retirement on Feb. 28.

The basilica was packed for the occasion as the pope, dressed in the traditional purple robes worn at Lent, presided over the Mass. Traditionally, this Lenten celebration is held in a midsized church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, but the venue was changed after the pope’s resignation to allow more people to attend the service.

The pope walked into the basilica unaided, but then stood on a wheeled platform that transported him between the many congregants.

The announcement on Monday of the first papal resignation in almost 600 years touched off a behind-the-scenes contest among the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church to succeed him.

The conclave to choose the next pope will begin 15 to 20 days after the pope resigns, and a new leader of the church is expected to be in place by Easter, which falls on March 31 this year.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the cardinals would begin to meet before the conclave in plenary sessions for discussions so that they go into the conclave “informed.”

As that drama plays out, Benedict himself will spend his final day as pope, Feb. 28, bidding farewell to cardinals in the morning. Then he plans to fly by helicopter in the afternoon to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, in the hills outside Rome, where he will be when his resignation takes effect at 8 p.m. local time, Father Lombardi said.

His meeting with cardinals on Feb. 28 will be informal, “not solemn” and “very personal,” according to Father Lombardi, who has said Benedict will not seek to influence their decision, even though many of them are kindred conservatives, appointed by either him or by John Paul II.

Father Lombardi said at a news conference here that the pope would hold scheduled audiences with the Romanian and Guatemalan presidents this week and with the Italian president on Feb. 23.

But there will be no formal ceremony of resignation, because Benedict has already fulfilled the canonical requirements for his departure by affirming publicly and in Latin — as he did to an assembly of cardinals on Monday — that he was resigning of his own free will.

Father Lombardi said Benedict decided to repeat his decision on Wednesday before an “assembly of people of God” at his scheduled weekly audience. The spokesman declined to respond directly to the question of whether the pope would receive a pension, but said the church would “obviously ensure that he would be looked after satisfactorily.”

“He’s not going to be a burden on the expenses of the Holy See,” the spokesman said.

Earlier, a cheering crowd greeted the pope with a standing ovation as he entered the Vatican’s cavernous Paul VI audience hall, which has a capacity of around 8,000. A huge banner at the rear proclaimed “Thanks Your Holiness.” He smiled often and thanked an Italian children’s choir that sang in German, the pope’s native tongue, saying, “The gift of singing songs is particularly dear to me.”

Before reaching his decision to resign, the pope said, he prayed and examined his conscience for a long time. Referring to the papacy, he said he had been “well aware of the seriousness of this act, but also aware of the fact that I am no longer capable of carrying out Peter’s Ministry with the strength needed.” “The certainty that the church belongs to God supports and illuminates me, and Christ will always give his guidance and care,” he said. “I thank you all for your love and prayer with which you’ve accompanied me. Please keep praying for the pope and the church. I felt it almost physically throughout these days that were not easy for me. Keep praying for me, for the church and for the future pope. The Lord will guide us.”The pope’s appearances on Wednesday offered his followers a chance to see and hear him before he withdraws into a far more sheltered life in a convent within the Vatican walls, where an apartment has been prepared for him. 

Still unclear, however, are some of the practical consequences of Benedict’s decision, Vatican officials have acknowledged, including how the former pope will be addressed and what to do with the papal ring used to seal important documents, traditionally destroyed upon a pope’s death.

Officials also disclosed on Tuesday that the pope had been fitted with a cardiac pacemaker a decade ago but said this had not been a major health issue and had not contributed to his reasons for resigning.

On Wednesday, thousands of Catholics gathered for a glimpse of the departing pope, including Francesca Meggiorini of Verona, who had brought her four children with her because, she said, “this is special.”

“I wanted my kids to be present,” she added. “The pope was a man whose simple words went straight to the heart. So it’s wonderful for my children to be here. I think this experience will remain in their memory.”

Kevin Murphy, on a pilgrimage from St. Benedict School in Bury St. Edmunds in eastern England, called Benedict “a great moral and spiritual leader.” And Fabio Semeraro, a ballet dancer from Rome, said he came to see the pope “because it’s an important event. You get attached to a pope, but then again, after, there will be another.”

When he leaves the papacy at the end of the month, Benedict will retire initially to Castel Gandolfo before moving to the Mater Ecclesiae convent, a plain, four-story structure built 21 years ago to serve as an international place “for contemplative life within the walls of Vatican City,” as it is described on a Vatican Web site.

Workers began transforming the building into a residence in November, after the cloistered nuns who had occupied the convent left, Father Lombardi said. He did not tip his hand about whether the renovations were carried out with the pontiff as the future occupant in mind. “The pope knew this place, this building, and thought it was appropriate for his needs,” he said.

The editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, wrote Monday that the pope had made his decision “many months ago,” after a demanding trip to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, “and kept with a reserve that no one could violate.”

Father Lombardi said that the stress of that trip had further convinced the pope that he no longer had the stamina to do the job.

In fact, the pope had meditated on the possibility of resigning for years. Rumors of his imminent resignation began to appear periodically in the Italian news media in recent years, as the pope appeared increasingly frail in public appearances.

A Vatican official, who asked not to be named because he was discussing papal business, said the number of people who had known about the pope’s decision “a long time could be counted on one hand.” But the pope informed a small group of other collaborators in recent days.

When he retires to Vatican City, the pope will be able to move freely, Father Lombardi said, though it was “premature” to say how involved he will be in day-to-day activities — like saying Mass — at the Vatican.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/europe/pope-benedict-xvi-as...