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As Resignation Looms, Pope Benedict XVI's Final Sunday Blessing

LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), VATICAN RADIO

Worldcrunch

VATICAN CITY- Just four days before his historic resignation, Pope Benedict XVI delivered his final weekly Angelus prayer Sunday from the window of his Vatican apartment.

A large crowd below in St. Peter's Square interrupted several times with applause during the brief address as the 85-year Benedict alluded to his decision to become the first Pope in six centuries to step down.

"The Lord is calling me to "climb the mountain", to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation," he said according to Vatican Radio. "But this does not mean abandoning the Church, indeed, if God is asking me to do this it is so that I can continue to serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love with which I have done thus far, but in a way that is better suited to my age and my strength."

On Thursday, Benedict will be taken away from the Vatican by helicopter, as the Cardinals gather in Rome to begin the closed-door process for picking his successor.

Follow Worldcrunch's coverage from the global press in Dossier 360: Next Pope.


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Gaza Fighting Resumes, Quick COP28 Deal Signed, Longest Hit Song

Palestinians inspect damages after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a house in Rafah, southern Gaza, as hostilities resume after a week-long truce between Hamas and Israel.

Emma Albright & Valeria Berghinz

👋 Alò!*

Welcome to Friday, where fighting resumes in Gaza after the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired, a COP28 deal is signed for a fund to pay for climate damage in poor countries and a rapper breaks a billboard record with a flute. Meanwhile, Mastercard is arriving in China following Xi Jinping’s “dinner diplomacy” last month in San Francisco, reports Chinese-language media The Initium.

[*Haitian Creole]

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