Pope Benedict XVI, in last public Mass, deplores ‘divisions’ roiling Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY — Standing above the ancient tomb of Saint Peter, Pope Benedict XVI used his final homily as pontiff Wednesday to deliver a blunt reflection on religious hypocrisy, suggesting the church was confronting internal “divisions” and sometimes presented a “disfigured” face.

Looking frail and aided by young priests as he moved beneath the vaulted canopy of the papal altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope appeared to implicitly address the Vatican power struggles and scandals that plagued his nearly eight-year tenure and, some have argued, potentially hastened his departure as leader of the Catholic Church. Presiding over his last public Mass — on Ash Wednesday, the opening of Lent, a period viewed by Catholics as a time of reflection and penance — he asked his flock to dwell on the true nature of a Christian life.

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Pope Benedict XVI made his first public appearance since Monday's resignation announcement to a packed audience hall in Vatican City on Tuesday.

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“We can reveal the face of the church and how this face is, at times, disfigured,” the German-born pontiff said, speaking in Italian on an exceedingly rare occasion: a Mass recognized to be the last of a sitting pope. “I am thinking in particular of the sins against the unity of the church, of the divisions in the body of the church.”

Benedict, 85, called for his ministry to overcome “individualism” and “rivalry,” saying they were only for those “who have distanced themselves from the faith.”

His candid farewell before a standing-room-only crowd of dignitaries, clergy and spectators, from the devout to the curious, came two days after Benedict shocked Vatican City and more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide by becoming the first pope in almost 600 years to resign. Although he officially steps down Feb. 28, and will make a final public appearance at St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 27, Wednesday’s Mass was to be the last for a man viewed as the church’s most formidable conservative theologian in generations.

The Vatican, however, is still confronting the latest in a litany of scandals, including leaks by the pope’s former butler of documents suggesting deep internal divisions and corruption within the ancient and secretive institution.

The pope has cited his failing body and mind to explain his decision, and on Wednesday he appeared fragile, if determined, while presiding over the solemn pageantry of the Catholic Mass.

He was shepherded down the long aisles of the basilica on a wheeled platform, although he at times walked unaided. In the pews, young seminarians took notes and grew teary-eyed as the pope hobbled down the marble stairs of the altar for the last time. Asian, European and American tour groups fortunate enough to be in Rome for the occasion strained their necks to catch a glimpse from the rear of the church.

At the conclusion of the Mass, as cardinals and bishops watched, a short nun stood on her chair to wave at the pope as he began his last procession out of the basilica. He walked with a gilded cane in the shape of a cross. Cheers erupted from the benches as he passed, along with shouts in Italian of “long live the pope!”

“This is historic,” said Andrew Bernetsky, 22, a seminary student from Connecticut who appeared moved by the occasion. “The Holy Father has done what he’s been doing since the day he was elected and has chosen to ask us to reflect on the meaning of unity before Christ. He is humbly pulling us together as a church as his gesture before leaving.”