POPE BENEDICT SEEKS END TO RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI urged an end to “religious hypocrisy” and “rivalry” in the Catholic Church as he donned his papal miter for the last time for an emotional Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday.

The 85-year-old Pope was hailed with a standing ovation and waves of applause from a congregation of thousands where many broke down in tears, as cardinals doffed their miters in a final gesture of respect.

Wearing the purple robes of Lent—a period of penitence for Christians—the Pope was conveyed through the Basilica’s vast nave on a mobile platform that underlined his growing infirmity.

Benedict called for greater sincerity in his final Mass as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics before he becomes only the second pontiff to resign voluntarily in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

He condemned “religious hypocrisy” and urged an end to “individualism and rivalry”.

“The face of the Church . . . is at times disfigured. I am thinking in particular of the sins against the unity of the Church,” he said, a possible reference to the many scandals plaguing the institution.

Christ “denounces religious hypoc- risy, a behavior that seeks applause and approval. The true disciple does not serve himself or the ‘public,’ but his Lord, in simplicity and generosity,” Benedict said.

On Wednesday, the frail Pontiff was greeted by chants of “Benedetto” and a banner reading: “Thank You, Holiness” at his weekly audience with thousands of believers in a Vatican

City auditorium.

Benedict told the crowd that he had taken his momentous decision “for the good of the Church.”

“Keep praying for me, for the Church and for the future pope,” he said, his voice full of emotion.

The Vatican announced that cardinal electors—the princes of the Church—will meet on March 15, or soon after to choose Benedict’s successor.

The secret conclave held in the Sistine Chapel under Michelangelo’s famed ceiling frescoes—deliberations that normally last a few days—should produce a new pope in time for Easter.

Many ordinary Catholics have said that they would like the new pope to be more in tune with the times after the traditionalist reigns of Benedict and his long-time pred- ecessor John Paul II.

“I want someone who is youthful and with a youthful spirit who can be more flexible,” said Ieva Tamosaityte, 25, a Lithuanian musician in the congregation at the Pope’s last Mass.

“I would like future popes to retire when they get old too,” she said, as staff in the Basilica distributed photos of the outgoing Pope.

Benedict will no longer be pope from 1900 GMT on February 28, after which, as Lombardi put it, “people will know they no longer have to go to him for questions regarding the Universal Church.”

Shortly before the time runs out on his Papacy, a helicopter will whisk Benedict away to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome, where he will live temporarily, while his new permanent residence in the Vatican is being renovated.

The Pope will hold his final general audience on February 27, this time a farewell event for all in Saint Peter’s Square, before retiring to a littleknown monastery within Vatican walls, just a stone’s throw away from his successor.