Benedict prepares for departure

POPE Benedict will assume the title of pope emeritus and still be referred to as “your holiness” after he officially retires tomorrow night.

The Vatican said the pontiff was sifting through documents to see which will remain in the Vatican and go into the archives of his papacy and which “are of a personal nature to take to his new residence”.

The next pope will inherit a confidential report by three cardinals into the “Vatileaks” affair when Benedict’s former butler leaked private papers revealing corruption and in-fighting inside the Vatican.

He will also take over a Church marred by child abuse scandals by priests in Europe and the US, both of which may have weighed on Benedict’s decision to decide he was too old to continue.

Vatican officials have had to find a title for the former pope, the first to step down in some six centuries, to decide how he should be addressed and what he should wear.

After two weeks of consultations, the Vatican announced the status Benedict will assume after he is no longer leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Benedict will be known as “Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI” or “Roman Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI”, be addresses as “Your Holiness,” and be referred to as “His Holiness Benedict XVI”.

This means that after the election of the new pope next month there will be two men with the title “holiness” in the Vatican at the same time.

Today, he will hold his last general audience, a weekly event which would normally be held in a vast auditorium in winter, but has been moved outdoors to St Peter’s Square so more people can attend.