Wow! A huge crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict XVI’s first blessing and window appearance after announcing that he would step down at the end of this month.
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI blessed thousands at St. Peter's Square for the first time since announcing his resignation.
— Beshanda Owusu (@allaboutnews) February 17, 2013
Thousands gather in St Peter's Square as #Pope Benedict XVI makes window appearance http://t.co/oPCbuM77
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 17, 2013
More from BBC News:
The Pope appeared at his study window overlooking St Peter’s Square at 11:00 GMT, his first such appearance since announcing his resignation last Monday.
The crowd erupted into loud applause and there were chants of “Long live the Pope”.
One banner in the square read: “We love you”.
Vatican crowd is emotional for Pope Benedict XVI's penultimate Angelus blessing – http://t.co/jd4KYRMz
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 17, 2013
On-scene photos and video were quickly posted to Twitter.
The love and thanks of the people for @Pontifex MT@PCCS_VA: Angelus today (Foto Osservatore Romano) pic.twitter.com/RgC5JbWG
— Stephanie Potter (@Sjgpotter) February 17, 2013
Amazing.
Huge crowd in St Peter's Sq right now for Pope B'a 2nd to last Angelus pic.twitter.com/4pntiycS
— David Wright (@WrightUps) February 17, 2013
Thousands in St. Peter's Square to see Pope Benedict pic.twitter.com/zGSZ5Zkd
— alanna satur (@a_satur) February 17, 2013
https://twitter.com/unitymedianews1/status/303123868552400896
https://twitter.com/marcoscandelli/status/303094522332721152
Raw: Pope Blesses Thousands at St. Peter's Sq.: http://t.co/FeVll7N8 via @youtube
— Bernd Pulch (@Pulch) February 17, 2013
The pope has no other public appearances scheduled this week.
Pope will enter retreat this evening; he has no public appointments for a week. pic.twitter.com/zICwQEBH
— Catholic News Service (@CatholicNewsSvc) February 17, 2013