we began with a breaking news from the vatican. that is where local media say pope benedict xvi has announced he will resign. we are hearing he will step down on the 28th of february. he was elected pope as the age of 78. we will be getting more information on this breaking news story in just a couple of minutes right here on al jazeera. stay tuned. it just a reminder, we are hearing from the vatican that pope benedict xvi has resigned. let's find out more and bring in sabine joining us on the telephone from italy. what more could you tell us on this announcement the pope will be resigning february 28? >> it appears the pope made the announcement himself but the information is very, very sketchy. of course, this is really big news. having a poker resign is something we have not seen for hundreds and hundreds of years. it appears the pope gave the announcement in latin. that is all we have a moment. we are obviously going to be following this story very closely indeed to see how things develop. >> i understand information just coming

he will go a short distance to the vatican helipad. ter there to take off for the pope's summer residence only about 15 miles away where he will remain for several months as the college of cardinals will then begin their deliberations on selecting a new pope. norah o'donnell, the co anchor of cbs this morning has been following this story all morning long. norah, you were following the pope's good-bye ceremonies with his college of cardinals. >> that's right, scott. this is the last day of his pontificate. he spent the day with more than 100 cardinals who are going to choose his successor. i spoke with cardinal george of chicago who said it was a very emotional moment as they greeted him, kissed his ring and he said that there was a moment of deep respect and gratitude. he said that the pope appeared joyful and relaxed on this final day. now as the pope retires, it begins this period of what they kade sede vacante empty seat. next week they will begin a general congregation. as one catholic scholar said to me that's the equivalent of ou

this is the last sunday at the vatican for pope benedict xvi. tens of thousands of people have gathered in st. peter's square, where the 85-year-old pontiff is reading his final sunday prayers. he of course resigned earlier this month, saying that he lacked the physical strength to carry on. the vatican denied that he was stepping down in order to deal with a snowballing scandal of late -- gay clergymen. in to what he is saying. >> [speaking latin] >> st. peter's square, thousands of people in the u.s. are demanding a senior clergymen pull out of the forthcoming papal conclave, the meeting to decide who will be the next pope. cardinal mahony was the archbishop of los angeles with a series of child sex abuse -- sex abuse scandals took place. he is accused of covering them up. a group of priests in the u.k. is attempting to stop keith o'brien from participating in the conclave, for he is accused of having participated in an inappropriate acts going back some 33 years. going live to st. peter's square, paul is there for us. we can see the faithful h

frompictures to show you the vatican. vi has announced resigning at the end month on a very 28. there's a press conference that happening live at the vatican might now. we are getting some pictures. so, a release was given out by the vatican radio website. right now this is video, not happening live. there's a full statement the is thatlaining why it he's announcing his resignation. he says that his strength in the last few months has , that he recognizes inadequacy it to willjob and that he the ministry of bishops .f rome >> the significance of this is massive. pe has resigned for more than 600 years. typically remains in until debts. him to of made this the cardinals are in place to begin a process where we would have a new pope named by the end of march, before easter. this is stepping down on 28.uary el monte has been on top of this -- jummys has more olabanji has been on top of this. down atll be stepping market.of this he said that "in today's world, in order to govern, the mind and body are necessary." at the age of

live from our studios in a moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas glad to have you with us the vatican has announced event pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing old age eighty five year old will become of the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries artie's peter all of the reports now from germany the pope's country of birth. well it was described by one cardinal as a lightning bolt from a clear blue sky it certainly caught some of benedict's most senior advisers on the hope his spokes person said that it had been left frankly flabbergasted by the news that the pope will be stepping down at the end of the month now benedict is eighty five years old obviously not a young man but the cardinals knew that when they elected him and he was supposed to be there for a lot longer than this i think they would have thought it's not unprecedented but it's not really done that often in fact the last time a pope stepped down was six hundred years ago it's certainly not been an easy right it's not been the longest papacy just

nbc's anne thomp soj is live at the vatican. let's start with the meeting with the cardinals, first, what is going to happen there? >> what will you see, mara, the dean of the college of the cardinals will welcome the cardinals to the vatican, officially do that, then pope benedict will come in and he'll be greeted by each of the cardinals. there are about 100 cardinals here and the greetings will not be long. each one will come up, kneel before him and kiss his ring. but what is interesting is that perhaps, somewhere in this 100 people could be his successor. and it will be -- you know, people, vatican watchers will be watching very closely to see if there any kinds of signs or signals or favoritism to one of the possible successors or another. you know, people will being looing at this with different, different eyes. but yo can expect to see a lot of affection here. >> and you know, this is of course, an opportunity for them to say good-bye. as you mentioned his successor could be among the cardinals there. is there any politic

. >> we will have the latest on the pope's possible successor live from the vatican. and what is the future for the afghan interpreters when troops withdraw? we report on the campaign here in the uk. also in the program, we have a look at smart phones the cost an arm and a link -- arm and leg. >> and like you did there. $10,000, that is what this little baby will set you back. it is a titanium smart phone. the question is, is this really worth 20 times more than the likes of iphone or galaxy? >> it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 9:00 in the evening and north korea, and has been carried out in clear defiance of united nations' warning with condemnation from the international community. the first indication came when scientists detected an earth tremor with a magnitude of 4.9. >> after weeks, north korea did what everyone told it not to. a nuclear tests. in the absence of political freedom or guaranteed meals, at least it is something to celebrate. >> we have faith that we can fight against any formidable enemy. >> i am full of confidence having heard this

there's another scandal with a girl who disappeared in the vatican twenty years ago and they say the man found her remains the italian police are leading the investigation here but instead of helping them about it is obstructing the investigation it's likely they knew about this and stayed silent and on top of all those cases of pedophilia with this is just disgusting the list of controversial events involving catholic priests or vatican officials reads like a tabloid reports of sex abuse pedophilia accusations allegedly corruption and possible ties with the mafia while the media especially in italy has been having a healed day with the scandals the vatican. others stayed silent. but those things may be looking rather grim for the seat of st peter's at a first glance there is still a chance the catholic church can make a comeback. with a church with. strong. we've come to reform because. the power. to the church is the spiritual but in spite of the. many wondering if. the world is rapidly changing and. failed to keep pace sure it has seen a fair number of ups and downs as well as two

the vatican confirming this information. he made a statement in latin during a small event saying that he does not have the strength anymore. the vatican did not offer any more explanation but once again this breaking news out of vatican city that pope benedict will resign as of february 28th. at the live desk, angie goff, news 4. >>> thank you, angie. president obama will honor a hero from the war in afghanistan. he'll award this man the medal of honor. he and his fellow soldiers battled hundreds of taliban fighters for more than 12 hours in 2009. eight americans died. romesha will be the only third living member to receive the medal of honor. >>> authorities in california are preparing for another day of searching for a suspected killer. police in los angeles are offering $1 million for information on christopher dorner, an ex-police officer accused of murdering three people. officers surrounding a home improvement store yesterday after someone reported seeing dorner there. investigators believe he's targeting other lapd of

the st. peter's basilica there. and vatican television cameras will follow the journey, live, robin. >> what history you're witnessing, george. you're going to be there all morning long, live. >>> and here, with josh, sam, bianna in for lara. we have a full morning here in new york as well. we are going to bring you the latest encouraging headlines for your wallet. the dow surging near record highs. bianna's going to bring us that. >>> and how about this? the hairstylist at war over a fortune. the co-workers said they bought the ticket as a group. one of them claimed the whole prize for herself. and that would never happen here. >> mostly never. >> full morning ahead. >>> of course, let's go back, now, to george in rome. george? >> and it is just a glorious day here, robin. sunny, warm. almost spring-like. those cardinals that the pope met with this morning have already begun their informal discussions about who the next pope is going to be. and the pope gave them some direction today. they come from 50 countries. and benedict

he's going to be met by the head of the vatican city state. the bishop of ablano will be there as well. that's the american equivalent of the diocese there. the director of the vatican's villas, this is a huge piece of property, larger than vatican city, there are a number of beautiful buildings there, the mayor of castle gandolpho will be there as well. the local parish priest so he is going to be greeting those folks and there you see him making his way very gingerly down the steps and going through these formal ceremonies, but not in any way opulent indicative of what's such an amazing moment in catholic history. thomas roberts joins me as well now. >> i couldn't be joining a better group of journalists and experts. chris, as you have been talking about, the fact that this is so important, the catholics must look at this as a world body to see exactly what this means going forward and still no timetable set for the conclave. but it's been an amazing part of history as we all watch. but there is a contingent of the catholic church and has to

and at the sixteenth come friday he'll retire to seclusion and prayer while in the vatican there is a feeling the real work is only just beginning it's not just about selecting a new bishop of rome some say but the very future of the catholic church the catholic church is undergoing a very important crisis it is a crisis at two levels it is a government crisis entities a crisis of the believers. in the last year or so the world was focused on the government crisis and devout the coming to korea pope benedict was a pope who is a great intellectual i think you're a theologian but he has not a strong hand to lead the victoria he has not the temperament of a government so there was a lack of leadership which culminated in the great scandals of but the leaks far from the splendor of the sistine chapel a closer look at the recent events in the vatican to highlight disillusionment and frustration with the church once all about the distance myself from the church when i became an adult when i started talking about what had been talking with specially after all the scandals broke out in the ca

the vatican frantically trying to deny them. of attention to this topic just days before pope benedict steps down as pope. >> and what's the feeling how influential this might be on the conclave that will pick the new pope? >> well, vatican watchers are saying this could be critical, that these allegations, whether true or not, underscore the need for the next pope to really clean up house, to look throughout the institution of not only the vatican state but the catholic church itself and take a very hard look at how the vatican has dealt with pedophile scandals, homosexuality within the church, and allegations that go back decades of financial wrongdoing within the vatican bank. fredricka? >> meantime, ben, there was some movement or a proposal to try and change the parameters, the dates, the window in which a pope can be selected. is there any new development on that? >> well, what we're hearing from the vatican is that if there is any change to the timetable for the conclave, that meeting of 116 cardinals to elect the next po

we just watched pope benedict leave the vatican. there they are moving along. >> straight to the helicopter is where they're headed. let's go to christiane amanpour and father irwin who are in rome right now sort of in the middle of all of that clapping and celebrating we just saw, christiane. >> reporter: indeed. and off he goes in that car, as you said, at a pretty brisk clip. he's going to the helipad which i'm told is at the vatican train station, if you can believe it and you know better than i that there is a vatican train station. he'll get on the helicopter and go. i just came from the north american college where i interviewed cardinal dolan about half an hour ago and he said, cardinal dolan, that him and many of the other cardinals, the american elected cardinals who are going to be staying there are going to go up to the roof to see if they can see the helicopter taking off. we've already seen cardinal turkson of ghana has joined the twitter revolution and he himself from the top of st. peter's behind me has tweeted a pict

which i guess you don't see very often outside of the vatican, outside of the walls of vatican. >> as we watch these live picture, he we realize the difficult part starts right now in selecting the new pope. which part of the world? we hear africa, we hear other parts of the -- maybe even the united states where the new pope will come from. a younger person, someone of another ethnicity we don't know. the muslim world where -- we just don't know where the next person will be coming from. >> right. and that's something that the 81 -- 115 eligible cardinals will be dealing with. a decision may not be reached until after that for at least a day or two. and again, as we watch the helicopter starting to be prepared to lift off and take the pope to his next residence, you can see the bells ringing there. certainly, it's an emotional time for a lot of catholics and a lot of people who are -- who have been following this with a lot of interest. we'll continue to follow this and bring you more pictures from italy as the pope moves onto his next residence. >>> right now, there are special masse

with your line on the screen twenty four hours a day the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing old age eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries artie's peter all of the reports now from the birthplace of the pope in germany. well it was described by one cardinal as a lightning bolt from a clear blue sky it certainly caught some of benedict's most senior advisers on the hope his spokes person said that it had been left frankly flabbergasted by the news that the pope will be stepping down at the end of the month now benedict is eighty five years old obviously not a young man but the cardinals knew that when they elected him and he was supposed to be there for a lot longer than this i think they would have thought it's not unprecedented but it's not really done that often in fact the last time a pope stepped down was six hundred years ago it's certainly not been an easy ride it's not been the longest papacy just under eight years but in that time

let's send it back to the vatican. >> thank you. d yes indeed we're here, it is all about white and yellow right now, the papal color, and the pope is about to start speaking to address the faithful for the final time as holy father. and our special coverage continues at the top of the hour. of course we'll be here when he actually leaves the vatican which is at about 11:00 a.m. eastern time and also when finally his papacy ends, that will be 8:00 p.m. rome i'm today. [ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. new nectresse. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. [ nyquil bottle ] just reading your label. wait...you relieve nasal congestion? sure don't you? [ nyquil bottle ] dude! [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. >>> you're taking a look at live pictures from st. peter's square where tens of thousands of pilgrims have gath

walled warm standoff from the people as on thursday people have poured out onto this streets by the vatican and on to st peter's square when the pope did his last drive by in the pope mobile of course a lot of people came to see that thousands upon thousands and then of course it's also it was also the day when the cardinals have arrived in rome in order to prepare for this election of the new pope and that is going to happen actually rather soon because unlike in previous times cardinals do not have to wait for certain period of humility after the recent poll but has died basically that was one of the major changes that have been that the sixteenth has put forth before stepping down but a lot of people are wondering exactly why isn't it the sixteenth has decided to resign and of course you have to remember the vatileaks scandals the recent scandals involving sex abuse committed by the catholic priests of course there are also accusations of the fact that the church was led by a man who is over eighty years old and of course a lot of people in vatican are about the same age as the poles tha

>> he'll be taking this helicopter from the vatican to castel gandolfo. lic news agency reports that he is a pilot. he has a small craft pilots license and previously he's flown the helicopter himself from the vatican to castel gandolfo. can you picture the image if we now see pope benedict piloting his own helicopter to castel gandolfo. i don't think that will happen but i find it an interesting tidbit about this pope. it's not what you would imagine, this shy, meek, man piloting a helicopter but reports say that's what he does. >> one of those things to ponder as we look forward to this unprecedented retirement, father. >>> you're about to witness history. catholic cardinals from all over the world each getting a moment with pope benedict, a private moment, right before his retirement. we'll take you live to rome for this undecember presented event. stamps.com is the best. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. i have

>> well, it's a scandal for the vatican and something clearly that the vatican doesn't want in terms tler and documents. the content of the documents not something that they are aware of. the cardinals -- butler sent to jail, just before christmas went to jail, visited the butler, forgave him, and the butler will be getting a job at a hospital built inside the vatican grounds. the butler has sort of been drawn back, rehabilitated if you will. slightly surprising. the fact that there are new cardinals appointed, of course, cardinals are replaced when they die, and when there is a need to create other positions, those have been created, and certainly there will be pressure within the conclave of cardinals that will begin to meet after february 28th when the pope steps down who will make the decision about who the next pope will be. some of the same pressures that were there in 20005 when pope benedict was chosen, will exist. people from the developing world will want to see a greater say, perhaps have a pope from the developing world. >> that will be one of the pressures. the pressure o

the vatican in crisis. the highest-ranking roman catholic resigns after he is accused of inappropriate behavior with priests. forced to call a cave home. we are inside syria where the millions displaced by civil war now struggle to survive. >> in the last 24 hours, this is where people came what -- to live and hide. the atmosphere here is apollyon. it is dark and dank and suffocating -- is appalling. it is dark and dank and suffocating. >> the voters in italy have had their say, but why is it causing the u.s. stock market to dive? welcome to our viewers on public at telik -- public television in america and also around the globe. britain most -- britain's most senior catholic has thrust the succession plans into question. cardinal keith o'brien has stepped down after being accused of inappropriate behavior with priests. he was do

how did the priest hear except vatican ii? how were they ready for it? >> many of them were very open. others said it's what the church says. with no preparation at all, they simply all facing the people. we just start on this. the people weren't -- others tried to be mull if i their people and so nothing changed. nothing really big happened. they were underestimating the tremendous scope of vatican ii and also mostiszeing their people. >> nobody said anything about vatican ii other than the current pope. where is he? >> he said an awful lot before he came pope which is gradually beginning to come true. the first thing, i'm not going to say i'm shocked or anything, i'm too old for that. he said that pope paul vi implemented the document on liturgy prematurely. i have never heard anyone criticize a predecessor and he wasn't pope thing. he also believed that we don't emphasize the god directed part of liturgy that it's become too human. he said also, he felt mass to the back of the people was important. then he becomes pope and he does some things that or a

says by mid-march at the latest. vatican says we should have a new pope by esther sunday march 31. pope benedict will not take part in the conclave. usually a conclave happens after a pope dies. 1415 was the last time a pope quit in office. who is the next pope? he could come from developing areas of the world. it guarantees a lot of drama and a lot of black or white smoke coming from the roof is sistine chapel. march report concerns about the pope's health surfaced this past christmas eve. have it can watchers say he looked frail as he delivered the midnight mass. here he is riding in a motorized cart. the mass is moved up two hours to give the pope time to rest for the christmas day speech. he took the opportunity to urge peace in the middle east during the holidays and was looking rather frail at christmas before this big decision. dill * it was remarkable to watch him at the midnight mass the amount of help he needed to move anywhere inside of st. peter's. cart mall timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york made this sta

you see the papal flag, the vatican flag. there is the balcony where the pope will come out to address the crowds gathered in the square. jenna: i believe the camera will pan over to see how close he is really is. one of the perceptions of the church and we can all understand it, the church and the vatican is often away from the people because you see on the television, st. peter's square and how grand some of that is in the area of the vatican in rome and it is remarkable, steven, to see how close he is is to the people town. >> right before we mentioned if you want a close up, more intimate setting to the see the holy father the castell gandolfo is the place to do it. most rome man known to see the city, to go out you side the city. the pope does the same. when he needs a break he will go to castell gandolfo. not unusual when the time of transition, when the papacy ends in a few minutes, or three hours now, 2 1/2 hours, that he chose castell gandolfo to come to be away from the city. though he will be able to see the vat --

and yet the vatican circled the wagons around him. this time it seems like these cardinals are finding themselves under the wheels of that wagon. they don't seem very eager to have owe bien here. i wonder if they're so eager to have ma moany here either. i mean they're not going to say don't come. it's the right of the cardinal to come. but it brings a distraction. >> warner: briefly before we go, thursday is the pope's la day. friday this process in some fashion begins. what does happen next? >> well, what happens next is that the cardinals start meeting with one another starting on march 1. in fact today the pope kind of made an amendment to the constitution, if you will, of the vatican saying that the cardinals will establish and meet and establish the date of the conclave. on march 1 they'll start meeting decide when the conclave is. really what you're going to have even though they're not supposed to is a bunch of cardinals talking to one another figuring out what issues are important, who are the likely candidates, who they thin

we are told by the vatican that the pope is aware of o'brien's case. >> thank you very much, becky n ment, i will be talking to a vatican analyst, raymond arroyo, about this con throw verse sand what it could mean for the catholic church overall. we will be right back. [ lorenzo ] i'm lorenzo. i work for 47 different companies. well, technically i work for one. that company, the united states postal service® works for thousands of home businesses. because at usps.com® you can pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. i can even drop off free boxes. the pope is aware of o'brien's ar lot of hats. well, technically i wear one. the u.s. postal service®, no business too small. [ barking ] ♪ come on, boy! [ barks ] ♪ oh, heavenly day here we go. ♪ cha-cha-cha ♪ don't you know that i love ya ♪ the pope is aware of o'brien's ♪ always thinking of ya ♪ all around the world case. ♪ everybody singin' along ♪ singin' along ♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars ♪ let me see what spring -- ♪ [ birds chirping ] case. li upcleever, introducing the new chevrolet. ♪ oh, heavenly

the vatican announces that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down as leader of the catholic church at the end of the month. french and malian forces reclaim the city of galle we bring you a firsthand account from the city after a surprise attack by militants almost spoils french claims of a victorious campaign. eighteen coal miners die in a methane explosion some eight hundred meters underground in russia's only republic . news twenty four hours a day this is our take on kerry johnston the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing his old age the eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries let's get more on this now from marty's tomball and he's with us here in the studio tom you say appointed in two thousand and five why this extraordinary ignatius now well it really has come as a shock this small army of pope watchers that are constantly monitoring stories from the vatican and the pope's health even they have been taken by surprise by this really

including the fact that the vatican colluded with silvio berlusconi's government in italy to try and get pressure taken off the church of rome to paying taxes on properties which it own and there is also a list that was published of well less than savory clients for the vatican bank which included some people alleged to be sicilian mafia bosses and of course one of the major scandals that is will be remembered for benedict's papacy concerns child abuse now in his previous job before he became pope he was essentially regarded as the john paul of seconds papal bulldog he was the defender of the doctrine of fair for faith and not role he is accused of covering up sexual abuse scandals all around the world but also here in germany in fact in recent times there's been further controversy over this as the church here in germany canceled an investigation into child abuses that range but the 1940's since stopped that investigation apparently according to the man who was conducting it because they weren't happy with what would be made public so there's certainly been controversy and it will be

on the most powerful committees that exist within the vatican so to the message he rebuilt he sent was if you are unable shield and protected creditors you will be rewarded and we don't feel that's the right message we feel that he should be taking action we have a bishop in the united states that was convicted of child endangerment and is still being allowed to run a diocese what kind of a message is that to send to the world i would expect more of the same since those that enable and shield and protect continue to be promoted to continue to be given the most powerful positions within the vatican the message is clear if you follow the company line if you keep this secret if you put the reputation of the church above this of the children then you will be promoted what a terrible message to send many people no longer trust church officials like they did in the past and that's a very sad statement that you can't trust your bishops. we're always interested in your thoughts on current issues and right now we're asking you to vote on our web site on to talk coleman what to think of the cath

on the most powerful committees that exist within the vatican so to the message we believe he sent was if you are unable shield and protected predators you will be rewarded and we don't feel that's the right message we feel that he should be taking action we have a bishop in the united states that was convicted of child endangerment and is still being allowed to run a diocese what kind of a message is that to send to the world i would expect more of the same since those that enable and shield and protect continue to be promoted to continue to be given the most powerful positions within the vatican the message is clear if you follow the company line if you keep this secret if you put the reputation of the church above this of the children then you will be promoted what a terrible message to send many people no longer trust church officials like they did in the past and that's a very sad statement that you can't trust your bishops. we're always interested in your thoughts on current issues and right now we're asking you to vote on our web site on to talk coleman what to you think of the

it as well as a lot of the cardinals in the quarter which is essentially the government body of the vatican they're roughly the same age and they're all of course there are some issues which come along with it and of course a lot of them have also said that modernity and acceptance of things that are happening in the world right now is something that the cardinals as well as the next pope should keep in mind come friday benedict the sixteenth retired to seclusion and prayer while in the vatican there's a feeling the real work is only just beginning it's not just about selecting a new bishop of rome some say but the very future of the catholic church the catholic church is undergoing a very important crisis it is a crisis at two levels it is a government tries these entities a crisis of the believe are. in the last year or so the world was focused on the government crisis and developed the come to korea pope benedict was a pope who is a great intellectual i think you're a theologian but he has not a strong hand to lead the victoria has not the temperament of a government so there was a lack

the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing his old age the eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries but let's get more on this now from artist tom barton who joins us live now in the studio taunted us more about this extraordinary unexpected announcement it really is extraordinary kerry it's come as a real shock to all of the journalists and people who regularly watch the activities of the pope in rome they none of those of them predicted it as well this sudden announcement a lot of speculation as to whether this decision was in the making in the planning for some time now those details slowly coming out one polish newspaper has said that they dug out a quote supposedly from benedict sixteenth back in one thousand nine hundred four when he said that there's no such thing as a pope in retirement. now it seems obviously he's gone through some kind of change of mind perhaps the difficulties of the job it must be noted he was one of the oldest pope selec

there was published of well less than savory clients for the vatican bank which included some people alleged to be sicilian mafia bosses and of course one of the major scandals that is will be remembered for benedict's papacy concerns child abuse now in his previous. this job before he became pope he was essentially regarded as the john paul of seconds papal bulldog he was the defender of the doctrine of fair for faith and not role he is accused of covering up sexual abuse scandals all around the world but also here in germany in fact in recent times there's been further controversy over this as the church here in germany canceled an investigation into child abuses that range but the 1940's in stop that investigation apparently according to the man who was conducting it because they weren't happy with what would be made public so there's certainly been controversy and it will be something that's picked over for a long time to come after benedict steps down at the end of this month and barbara doris the child abuse complaint as soon as the outgoing pope has failed to solve the core pro

he thanked the people around him in the vatican wall and the people that we see and that we don't see. i think that's a very interesting invitation to all of us, an invitation to look at the good things within the vatican. a sense of charity to one another. chris, the central message of this -- of this address, was indeed love. >> also acknowledging that this has been, george, some times very difficult papacy, any papacy is hard, you wrote about this today, the idea that becoming pope is actually an impocket task, but he said that he faced choppy seas, head winds at times, your thoughts about his final address to the people. >> chris, like you, i was struck by how interestingly autobiography cally this last speech was. it was within a new testament framework. this pope treats the new testament not as if it were an ancient artifact as it was a template to live one's life. sometimes in difficult circumstances, he's asking all of us in the church and in particularly these cardinals, who now have an extremely, heavy burden, laid on them. to understand, like the gospel story of peter, walk

that does not mean that no one is leading the vatican. the effective secretary of state here at the vatican will have an interim role to make sure that everything is functioning until the election of the new pope, and that pope will probably decide if and how to reassign the various roles here, in the civil service. >> so pope benedict will become pope emeritus. what does that title actually mean? will he have a senior role to play at all? >> not actually going to have a role as such. the title itself is an honorary role, expected of someone who has merited respect, someone who steps down from an important position, usually called emeritus. so pope emeritus, that is the title itself and it means that he will be awarded the respect, although it will be a very interesting times because effectively you will have a new pope, and the next pope still at the vatican. he has made it very clear that he will not try to make the most of that position. he said that he has vowed obedience to the next pope, so it will be an interesting combination, of c