The Pope Appears For The First Time After His Resignation Announcement

The Pope Appears For The First Time After His Resignation Announcement

The Pope made his first appearance in the public ever since he announced that he was resigning last Monday. Pope Benedict XVI is currently holding the weekly general audience in the traditional audience hall of the Vatican.

He will also celebrate his last Mass and Ash Wednesday service as the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica. His failing strength and advanced age were the main reasons that he gave for resigning as the head of a Roman Catholic Church.

Vatican officials said that Pope Benedict will work on his diary until his resignation becomes official. A new Pope is expected to be named at the end of the Lenten season.

Pope Benedict was supposed to celebrate the beginning of Lent at the Sant' Anselmo church before leading a procession into Santa Sabina Basilica at the Aventine Hill of Rome. The change in the venue was to have enough room for the faithful who are set to attend the service. It will also reduce the effort that the Pope will exert in a procession.

The service will have a number of pilgrims, friars, monks, bishops and cardinals in attendance. Pope Benedict is also set to anoint the foreheads of some of the people attending the service with ashes. The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends near the start of April.

A Lenten retreat is also set to be held by the Vatican from February 17 up to 24. Another weekly audience is scheduled for the Pope on February 27 at St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became one of the oldest popes in the history of the Vatican. Following his assumption into the position, Pope Benedict faced one of the biggest issues that rocked the Catholic Church in decades.

The statement of the Pope indicated that after he examined his conscience, he came to a realization that his advanced age made it unsuitable for him to exercise the Petrine ministry adequately.

Posted by James Fried on Thursday February 14 2013, 3:51 AM EST. Ref: BBC. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0