Catholics without a leader as Benedict’s papacy ends

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Catholics without a leader as Benedict’s papacy ends

By RACHEL DONADIO THE NEW YORK TIMES

Posted: March 1, 2013 at 5:36 a.m.

A helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican on Thursday after the 85-year-old pontiff officially stepped down. As pope emeritus, Benedict will live in Castel Gandolfo for several months and then return to the Vatican to live in an apartment being prepared for him.

MICHAEL SOHN
Credit: AP
A helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican on Thursday after the 85-year-old pontiff officially stepped down. As pope emeritus, Benedict will live in Castel Gandolfo for several months and then return to the Vatican to live in an apartment being prepared for him.

Benedict XVI ceased to be pope at 8 p.m. Rome time — or 1 p.m. Central — Thursday when his resignation took effect, leaving the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church vacant while its leading clerics consider who should succeed him.

INTERACTIVE: Pope Benedict XVI resigns

Pope Benedict bids goodbye

Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican for the last time as pontiff on Thursday, flying by helicopter to the Vatican's vacation retreat hours before becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. (By AP)
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Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd Thursday from the window of the his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, making his last p... (By: ANDREW MEDICHINI) (Credit: AP)

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