From The New York Times-In his final hours as head of the Roman Catholic church, Benedict XVI met on Thursday with the cardinals who will elect his successor, urging them to be “like an orchestra” that harmonizes for the good of the Church and pledging that he would behave with “unconditional reverence and obedience” toward his successor.
It was one of the concluding acts of a nearly eight-year, scandal-dogged papacy that, Benedict said on Wednesday, was filled with “light and joy” but also had its darker moments when “the Lord seemed to be sleeping.”
A day after blessing the faithful for the last time as pope, Benedict will leave the Vatican by helicopter on Thursday for the papal summer residence and his retirement will formally take effect at 8 p.m. local time.
After thanking the more than 100 cardinals collectively, the pope greeted each of them, standing before a gilded throne in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. Draped in a red and gold mantle lined with snow-white ermine, Benedict clasped the cardinals’ hands as they spoke to him, removing their distinctive red skullcaps to greet him and kiss his ring.
More here-
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/world/europe/pope-benedict-xvi.html?_r=0
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