Benedict plans retreat to summer residence

Pope Benedict XVI will stay at the papal summer residence outside Rome when he officially steps down on Thursday before moving into a former nunnery within the Vatican walls, the Holy See has announced.

The first pontiff to retire in six centuries has said that he will move out of the papal apartments overlooking St Peter’s Square after he ceases to be Pope at 8pm on Thursday.

Immediately after his resignation, Benedict will spend time in the hills south of Rome where he has spent other summer vacations reading and writing.

He will soon be able to enjoy the gardens and feed the goldfish in a pond near a statue of the Madonna where he often liked to visit.

If he’s interested, Benedict can do some star-gazing. The Vatican Observatory is located inside the palazzo, complete with a telescope and a world-class collection of meteorites.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said Benedict would eventually return to the Vatican and live at a monastery inside the Vatican gardens.

Asked if he might like to go somewhere else, Lombardi said the Pope would feel “much safer” inside the Vatican walls.

The heliport from which his helicopter will take off for the last time on Thursday is only a few hundred metres from the monastery — near a reproduction of the grotto in Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to a girl in the 19th century.

Situated in the heart of the Vatican and isolated from the rest of the world, this small residence is surrounded by blossoming flower beds and vegetable gardens.