On eve of exit, Benedict urges prayers for church
Departing pope speaks before last general audience
VATICAN CITY — In a final appearance before beginning his retirement behind Vatican walls, Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday told an adoring crowd — the sort that has mostly eluded him during his eight-year reign — that “to love the church means also to have the courage to make difficult, painful decisions, always putting the good of the church before oneself.”
More than 100,000 people packed St. Peter’s Square for his address.
About 70 of the church’s cardinals, who are now tasked with selecting Benedict’s successor, sat to his right on the steps before St. Peter’s Basilica. To his left sat ambassadors representing myriad countries.
They all listened to Benedict, 85, visibly frail but in good spirits, as he recalled that upon his election as pope on April 19, 2005, he
Pontiff’s final day
Thursday will be the final day in office for Pope Benedict XVI.
11 a.m.: Benedict says goodbye to cardinals in the Clementine Hall.
5:30 p.m.: He arrives at the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome. In his last public act as pope, he will greet townspeople from a window.
8 p.m.: The two Swiss guards at the entrance of the palace will leave, marking the end of the pontificate. thought, “Lord, what do you ask of me?”
But, he added, he had faith that God would guide him.
“It was a journey for the church that had moments of joy and light,” but also darker moments, “in which the waters were rough and the wind was at its face ... and the Lord seemed to sleep,” Benedict said. “But I have always knownthat the Lord is in that ship and that the ship of the church is not mine. ... It is his, and the Lord will not let it founder.”
Benedict tried but was unable to reverse the erosion of the church in the Western world during his tenure. On his watch, he saw a global explosion of the sexual-abuse crisis that had festered under his predecessor, John Paul II, and a seemingly incessant flow of church government scandals.
He said that while he no longer holds office, he will serve the church through prayer. He asked those in the crowd to keep him in their prayers, as well, but also asked that the gathered masses pray for the cardinals gathering in Rome to begin the secret work of picking his successor.
Jihad Krayem, 33, a Franciscan from Lebanon dressed in brown robes, said the pope’s resignation was his most important achievement. “We have all these leaders who never want to let go of power and they kill each other over it,” Krayem said.