• Checks in as cardinal, pays bill as Pope Francis

    Osservatore Romano via Reuters

    Newly elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, checks out of the church-run residence on March 14, where he had been staying in Rome. Pope Francis returned on Thursday to the Church-run residence where he was staying before becoming pontiff, and insisted on paying the bill, despite now effectively being in charge of the business, the Vatican said.

    Slideshow: Pope Francis: His life before the papacy

    Marcos Brindicci / Reuters

    Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. 

    Launch slideshow

    By Alastair Jamieson and Claudio Lavanga, NBC News

    The Latin American pope’s election shattered Europe's centuries-old grip on the papacy, and his choice of name — in honor of the 12th century saint from Assisi — is widely seen as a nod to a new era of simplicity.

    Lombardi said Pope Francis declined the official papal car for his first journey from the Sistine Chapel, choosing instead to board a bus with cardinals who had just elected him.

    Later, at dinner, the new pope prompted laughter by responding to their toast with the remark: "May god forgive you for what you have done."

    Francis returned Thursday to the church-run hostel where he had stayed ahead of the conclave and insisted on paying the bill.

    "He was concerned about giving a good example of what priests and bishops should do," a Vatican spokesman said. He did not disclose how much the bill totaled. Read more.

    Story: Trading in the bus for a butler: The new pope's new lifestyle

    Editor's note: NBC News received this photo on March 15

  • Inside Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict's spectacular temporary retirement home

    Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

    A garden at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer residence, on the outskirts of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI officially steps down on Thursday, Feb. 28. Benedict will stay at Castel Gandolfo until renovations on his permanent home are completed. Click the image for more photos.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    Even though Pope Benedict XVI is leaving the papacy, he'll remain in sumptuous, familiar surroundings — at least for a few weeks.

    Sometime in April, Benedict will take up permanent residence in Mater Ecclesiae, a modest convent for cloistered nuns at the Vatican. The convent is under renovation, however, so in the meantime, Benedict will live at Castel Gandolfo, the small town of about 8,000 people a few miles southeast of Rome that has been the summer retreat for popes for almost four centuries.

    Vatican records indicate that Benedict has spent an average of five weeks a year at the grand Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo since he assumed the papacy in 2005, so he should feel quite at home.

    Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

    A light switch bears the Papal seal.

    And what a home it is. The complex, which overlooks Lake Albano and what's left of the enormous villa of the first-century Roman Emperor Domitian, actually dwarfs Vatican City by almost 400,000 square feet. It comes complete with landscaped gardens, an arboretum, natural conservatories, museums and fish ponds.

    Step inside Pope Benedict's temporary new home

    The sculptured gardens, which make up more than half of the estate, are a favorite retreat for popes, who have been known to frequently take long walk along their paths. 

    And don't forget the 25 dairy cattle, which are reputed to produce some of the finest milk in Europe.

    The town is named for the castle of the Gandolfi family of Genoa, which was built around 1200. It was originally a fortress against marauders, which explains its high walls and other ancient barriers. 

    Franco Origlia / Getty Images

    The Apostolic Palace and the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo on Lake Albano will be the Pope Benedict XVI's residence during the next Conclave, in Rome, Italy. The Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, 10 miles south Rome, is also the summer residence for popes.

    Formally speaking, the Vatican assumed control of Castel Gandolfo only in 1929 under the Lateran Treaty, which formalized relations between Italy and the independent state of Vatican City. But in reality, it has been the church's domain since 1596, when Pope Clement VIII seized it from the Savelli family in lieu of unpaid debts, according to the Vatican's official history.

    Today, it's home not only to the Apostolic Palace but also the Vatican Observatory (where visitors can see a moon rock collected during the Apollo XVII mission), the Villa Barberini (where many remains of Domitian's palace are still visible), Villa Cybo (which is used by school of the Maestre Pie Filippini religious community), apartments for 21 employees and the Pontifical Church of St. Thomas of Villanova.

    Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Benedict XVI will live until his permanent home is completed, has been a quiet sanctuary for 400 years. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports.

    The spectacular view of Lake Albano from the complex has inspired many artists. Landscapes of the scene by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, J.M.W. Turner and Claude Lorraine, among others, hang in some of the world's premier museums.

    The complex itself is the setting for stunning works of religious art, as well, among them frescoes by Jan Henryk de Rosen and Angelo Righetti's statue "Madonna of the Park."

    The Pontifical Church, designed in 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the leading sculptor of his age, features interior domes and statues by Antonio Raggi, famous for grand pieces such as the "Virgin and Child" in Paris and the marble "Death of Saint Cecelia" in Rome. One of Bernini's own masterpieces, a fontana, or fountain, adorns the the piazza facing the Apostolic Palace.


    At Castel Gandolfo, "I find everything: a mountain, a lake; I even see the sea," Benedict remarked in 2011. Those words are now engraved on a plaque in the town hall.

    Benedict will move in to Castel Gandolfo late Thursday afternoon. He'll get there by helicopter — a tradition started in 1975 by Pope Paul VI, who wanted to avoid traffic on the ancient Appian Way.

    Paul VI was an especially enthusiastic visitor to Castel Gandolfo. In 1972, he described its charms in words that might resonate with Benedict, who said he was abdicating because of his age and declining health:

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    A view of a grotto inside the pope's summer residence.

    "We, too, enjoy this God-given gift, by breathing the fresh air, admiring the beauty of our natural surroundings, appreciating the enchantment of its light and silence and seeking here to restore our lack of energy, which is never enough and now even a little scarce."

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  • Pope Benedict tells cheering crowd to pray 'for me and next pope'

    With the days of his papacy dwindling, every public appearance of outgoing Pope Benedict are now a must see event, NBC's Ann Thompson reports.

    By Philip Pullella, Reuters

    VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope, addressing a crowded St. Peter's Square in his penultimate Sunday address before becoming the first pontiff in centuries to resign.

    The crowd chanted "Long live the pope!," waved banners and broke into sustained applause as he spoke from his window. The 85-year-old Benedict, who will resign on February 28, thanked them in several languages.

    Speaking in Spanish, he told the crowd which the Vatican said numbered more than 50,000: "I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope".

    It was not clear why the pope chose Spanish to make the only specific reference to his upcoming resignation in his Sunday address.

    A number of cardinals have said they would be open to the possibility of a pope from the developing world, be it Latin America, Africa or Asia, as opposed to another from Europe, where the Church is crisis and polarized.

    After his address, the pope retired into the Vatican's Apostolic Palace for a scheduled, week-long spiritual retreat and will not make any more public appearances until next Sunday.

    Pope Benedict delivered a weekly prayer from his balcony just as he has for nearly eight years, but the crowd on Sunday was worthy of a rock star, with thousands of supporters coming out to hear him speak. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.

    Speaking in Italian in part of his address about Lent, the period when Christians reflect on their failings and seek guidance in prayer, the pope spoke of the difficulty of making important decisions.

    "In decisive moments of life, or, on closer inspection, at every moment in life, we are at a crossroads: do we want to follow the ‘I' or God? The individual interest or the real good, that which is really good?" he said.

    Since his shock announcement last Monday, the pope has said several times that he made the difficult decision to become the first pope in more than six centuries to resign for the good of the Church.

    The pope has said his physical and spiritual forces are no longer strong enough to sustain him in the job of leading the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics at a time of difficulties for the Church in a fast-changing world.

    Benedict's papacy was rocked by crises over the sex abuse of children by priests in Europe and the United States, most of which preceded his time in office but came to light during it.

    His reign also saw Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church's business dealings, his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers.

    Riccardo De Luca / AP

    A priest displays a placard in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican as he follows Pope Benedict XVI reciting the Angelus prayer from the window of his apartments, Sunday.

    People in the crowd said the pope was a shadow of the man he was when elected on April 19, 2005.

    "Like always, recently, he seemed tired, moved, perplexed, uncertain and insecure," said Stefan Malabar, an Italian in St. Peter's Square.

    The Vatican has said the conclave to choose his successor could start earlier than originally expected, giving the Roman Catholic Church a new leader by mid-March.

    Some 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to enter the secretive conclave to elect Benedict's successor. Church rules say the conclave has to start between 15 and 20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, which it will on February 28.

    The pope will say one more Sunday noon prayer on February 24, hold a final general audience on February 27. The next day he will take a helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castle Gandalf, south of Rome, flying into the history books.

    Elisabetta A. Villa / Getty Images Contributor

    Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Angelus Blessing from the window of his private studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, on Sunday.

    Vatican officials said he would stay there for the two months or so needed to restore the convent inside the Vatican where he will live out his remaining years. 

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