Ageing Pope begins to use wheeled platform

POPE BENEDICT XVI began using a wheeled platform to navigate the long aisle of St Peter’s Basilica, adopting the device employed by his ailing predecessor to reduce fatigue.

As the platform, pushed forward by aides, glided up the marble floor towards the main altar, Benedict gripped his pastoral staff with one hand and the device’s support bar with the other.

The 84-year-old pontiff occasionally took his hand off the bar to wave to thousands of faithful flanking his route in the basilica, where he celebrated a Mass dedicated to encouraging missionary zeal.