Thank you

This morning, the Holy Father presided over his final General Audience in Saint Peter's Square.  In attendance were approximately 150,000 of the faithful from many various parts of the world.

Arriving in the pope-mobile, the Holy Father travelled through the crowd, stopping at various moments to hold and bless chiildren.

The audience followed its normal outline, beginning with the liturgical greeting and then followed by the reading of an exerpt from Saint Paul's letter to the Collosians.  In twelve different languages, the Holy Father addressed the faithful gathered in the Square, and by means of television, radio and internet, in many other parts of the world.

He spoke affectionately and with great gratitude for the many greetings which he has received over the past weeks.  Unlike a corporate persona, he knows that the Church is a family of peoples.  The greetings he has received are from Heads of State but equally from simple, ordinary people who have spoken with simple and convincing words of faith.  For all this, he spoke of profound gratitude.

He spoke of his constant understanding that the Church never belonged to him, or to any human being, but that it belongs to the Lord.  It is the Lord who accompanies us, who guides us, who waits for us to respond.  Always and forever, the one who takes on the Petrine ministry lives a very public life.  He has no more privacy.  As a result, beginning tomorrow evening, Benedict is not abandoning the Church but rather taking on a new phase of his ministry.  While he will no longer be responsible for administrative decisions, he will always carry the well-being of the Church in his heart as he lives a life of prayer and meditation for the good of the Church.

At times during this audience, His Holiness smiled.  His face portrayed a deep serenity too, perhaps an echo of the knowledge within him that this moment is one in which he continues to respond to the Lord's call for him to enter into a new phase of his life, but to continue his life of service.  He knows that the Church is first and foremost the Lord's, and as such, calls all the faithful to realize that our life of faith is based on a personal relationship with Jesus. 

In times of great fortune, the Lord is present to the Church.  In times when it seems that He is silent, he is merely waiting for us to respond, to return, to be present to Him and to allow Him to be present to us.

Now that the General Audience is complete, the Holy Father will proceed to the Clemetine Hall where he will meet with the President of the Republic of Slovakia; the Regent Captains of the Republic of San Marino; the President of the Free State of Bavaria; and the Co-Prince of Andorra.

Tomorrow, prior to his departure for Castel Gandolfo, His Holiness will meet informally with the Cardinals who are present in Rome.  These immediate collaborators are in a sense his family members, so it is right that he wishes to express his gratitude, most likely in individual adresses to each of them.