Weary Benedict asks faithful to keep praying for him

A weary Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated his final public Mass as pontiff.

He presided over Ash Wednesday services just hours after explaining his decision to step down directly to the faithful.

The mood inside St Peter’s Basilica was sombre during the Mass. However, the basilica erupted in a rousing, minutes-long standing ovation as Benedict exited, bringing tears to the eyes of some of his closest collaborators.

“We wouldn’t be sincere, Your Holiness, if we didn’t tell you that there’s a veil of sadness on our hearts this evening,” Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict’s long-time deputy, told the pope.

The scene was festive earlier, when Benedict spoke to his flock about why he had broken with 600 years of tradition and decided to resign on Feb 28.

He thanked the faithful for their prayers and love, which he said he had “physically felt in these days that haven’t been easy for me”. And he asked them “to continue to pray for me, the Church, and the future pope”.